The money behind QPR: How the club's owners built their fortune | OneFootball

How QPR owners Ruben Gnanalingam, Richard Reilly, and Amit Bhatia built their fortunes.

Queens Park Rangers are in a new era under Julien Stephan, and have assembled quite possibly one of the most exciting squads in recent years for the 2025/26 campaign.

It was always going to be difficult for the R's hierarchy to replace popular boss Marti Cifuentes, after the Spaniard departed the club this summer, but things now look even more exciting at Loftus Road.

Despite some teething issues early on, which saw a concerning 7-1 loss to Coventry City, a 3-1 win over London rivals Charlton Athletic has seen spirits raised once again, as the new-look squad begins to gel.

The QPR owners, Ruben Gnanalingam, Richard Reilly, and Amit Bhatia, have backed their new manager in the transfer window, and some expensive players have been signed, which could have a huge impact on the pitch.

Running a football club is an expensive hobby though, so we dived into the background of majority shareholder Gnanalingam, and found out how he earned his fortune.

The lowdown on the ownership structure at Queens Park Rangers

Many EFL fans will be familiar with the name Tony Fernandes, who acquired the London-based club in 2011, serving as a co-chairman all the way through until 2023, when he handed over the reins to long-term business partner Gnanalingam.

The Malaysian had also been involved with the club since his compatriot's acquisition in 2011, overseeing a brief stint in the Premier League, where spending was big, before the club found themselves stuck mid-table in the Championship.

Gnanalingam's shares in QPR have gradually increased in size throughout his tenure at the club, with the first increase to 33% in 2016, before he became the majority shareholder when Fernandes departed, upping his stake to 60%.

Currently, the remaining 40% of shares that aren't in the custody of the 48-year-old are split between two other investors in American businessman Reilly, and British-Indian Bhatia.

Reilly has slowly increased his shares in the club over time, similarly to Gnanalingham, starting off with 12%, which became 21%, leaving the longest serving member of the ownership trio, Bhatia, with just under 20% of shares in his name.

Ruben Gnanalingham's net-worth, and how he made his money

Ruben Gnanalingam (second left), QPR majority owner

Reuters

For this article, we honed in on the men who hold the stakes in the club, exploring their estimated net worth, and how exactly he made his fortune to acquire majority ownership of a Championship football club.

As for the majority stakeholder, according to Forbes, as of 2025, the Gnanalingham family net worth sits at an estimated $2.1bn, which has increased from $1.6bn last year. But where did they make this fortune that is continuing to grow?

Well, most of this income is from their stake in the company Westports Holdings, which was co-founded by Ruben's father. The company operates one of Malaysia's biggest ports, and the QPR majority owner has been in post as CEO of the company since 2015.

This dwarfs the net worth of the other two parties in the ownership trio, with Reilly and Bhatia boasting a more modest net worth, according to reports.

Firstly, Reilly's net worth is rather difficult to find an exact figure for, but after selling two companies in Rough Brothers and RBI Solar for around $130m, that seems like a minimum figure for what the American could be worth.

As for Bhatia, he was an entrepreneur that married into wealth over 20 years ago, becoming the son-in-law of billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, who is said to be worth $19.1bn.

However, the British-Indian's personal net worth isn't thought to be in the ballpark of his father-in-law, with $133.5m being a reported figure in December 2024 for the founder of private equity firm Swordfish Investments.