Richard Clive Desmond is a British publisher, businessman, and former pornographer.He is the former owner of Express Newspapers and founder of Northern & Shell, which publishes various celebrity magazines, such as
OK! and
New!, and British national newspapers
Daily Star and
Daily Express. Express Newspapers were sold to Reach plc for a consideration of ÂŖ200m of which ÂŖ74m was invested in the Express newspapers pension scheme until 2027. Northern & Shell owned Britain's Channel 5 before selling it to US broadcaster Viacom for ÂŖ463m in May 2014. The company sold its adult television network, Portland, in April 2016 for less than ÂŖ1m.