Ousted Persimmon boss sets up new venture with his wife

theguardian.com:

The former chief executive of the housebuilder Persimmon who landed one of the biggest bonuses in British corporate history has set up a new venture with his wife.

Jeff Fairburn, who was ousted from Persimmon after protests at his bumper £82m bonus in 2018, has set up an investment company with his wife, Jayne, the Guardian can reveal.

Fairburn registered Third Stone Investments, a private company located in Durham, north-east England, last week. He and his wife, whose occupation is listed as “home keeper”, are the only directors.

The filing at Companies House does not detail the company’s specific activities but it is registered as a “credit granting” business under a company code usually ascribed to industrial finance firms or banks outside the mainstream UK banking system.

Jayne Fairburn is listed as a director of three other companies: a pubs business called J4 Leisure; J4 Holidays, a holiday lettings in the seaside town of Filey, North Yorkshire; and a property firm, Third Stone Properties.

In the year after he was forced out of Persimmon, Fairburn handed his wife more than £13m in shares in the company. The new venture could represent his latest attempt at rehabilitating his corporate image.

Fairburn has kept a relatively low profile since the storm over his bonus, which he received as the taxpayer-funded help-to-buy scheme buoyed Persimmon’s profits and which was labelled “excessive and unearned”.

The mammoth payout had been reduced from £110m after an investor revolt and his profile was damaged when Fairburn walked away from questions over his payout during an interview.

The tycoon, who has been dubbed Moneybags, made a comeback in January 2020, when he was appointed chief executive of the housebuilder Berkeley DeVeer