Hugo Dixon Explained

Hugo Dixon
Birth Name:Hugo Duncan Dixon
Nationality:British
Education:Eton
Alma Mater:Balliol College, Oxford
Occupation:Business journalist
Employer:Former editor of the Financial Times Lex column
Known For:Co-founder, editor-in-chief and chairman Breakingviews
Credits:, which produces label "Notable credit(s)"; or by
Works:, which produces label "Works"; or by
Label Name:, which produces label "Label(s)" -->
Office:may be used as an alternative when the label is better rendered as "Office" (e.g. public office or appointments) -->
Mother:Edwina Sandys
Father:Piers Dixon

Hugo Duncan Dixon (born December 1963) is a British business journalist and the former editor-in-chief and chairman of the financial commentary website Breakingviews which he co-founded. He was the editor of the Financial Times Lex column from 1994 to 1999, and a visiting fellow at Saïd Business School, Oxford University. He is the great-grandson of former British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill.

Early life

Hugo Duncan Dixon was born in December 1963[1] [2] to the Conservative MP Piers Dixon and the artist Edwina Sandys. The couple divorced in 1970 when Dixon was six.[3] Dixon has an older brother, Mark Pierson Dixon, born in 1962.[4]

Education

Dixon was a King's Scholar at Eton and gained a first in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Balliol College, Oxford.[5]

Career

Dixon's first job was as an intern at The Economist in 1985. A year later, he became junior banking correspondent for the Financial Times (FT). In 1988, aged 24, he was seconded to work for the then Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Bob Maclennan to write the manifesto for the party's merger with the Liberals. Voices and Choices For All[6] became known as 'the dead parrot document' after the famous Monty Python sketch[7] [8] because, when Liberal MPs read about its proposals in this paper, they barricaded their leader David Steel into his Commons office and told him he would be turfed out if he backed the controversial document – copies of which had already been left for journalists waiting at the press conference to announce the merger. Dixon also began working as telecoms and electronics correspondent for the FT in the same year.

In 1993 Dixon became leader writer for the FT, and a year later became editor of the paper's Lex column.[9]

Breakingviews

Inspired by an interview with Bill Gates in 1999, Dixon quit his job at the FT and co-founded – with his colleague from the FT, Jonathan Ford – Breakingviews, a website providing financial commentary.[10] [11] In 2007, Dixon and Ford fell out and Ford left to help set up a rival financial commentary website at Reuters.

In 2009, Dixon sold Breakingviews to Reuters for £13 million, making himself £2.5 million, with a retention bonus for Dixon to stay on as the website's editor for the following three years.[12] The move meant that Ford lost his position at Reuters.[13] Dixon continued as Breakingviews editor until 2012[14] when he became its commentator-at-large.[15] For a time, he contributed a fortnightly column to the website.[16]

Pro-EU activism

Dixon is pro-EU and opposed to Brexit.[17] He is the chair and editor-in-chief of InFacts, a website that focuses on facts and factual analysis about Brexit.[18] [19]

Dixon has written several pro-EU articles for The Guardian[20] and The Independent[21] in the aftermath of the Referendum.[22]

Other roles

Dixon is a visiting fellow at Saïd Business School, Oxford University.

Bibliography

Awards

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. News: Piers Dixon . . 29 March 2017 . 2 November 2018.
  2. News: Obituaries: Well connected Conservative MP for Truro who was one of the last visitors to Churchill's death bed . . Issue no 50,388 . 25 March 2017 . 2 November 2018.
  3. News: Gould Keil . Jennifer . Real Estate: Churchill's granddaughter puts SoHo loft on the market . . 12 September 2013 . 2 November 2018.
  4. News: Green . Michelle . Sir Winston's Granddaughter, Edwina Sandys, Is a Chip Off the Old Bloke . . 11 July 1983 . 2 November 2018.
  5. News: Tryhorn . Chris . Hugo Dixon: 'Almost everything we do, the Financial Times tries to copy' . . 25 January 2010 . 2 November 2018.
  6. Book: Dixon, Hugo . Voices and choices for all: policy declaration for the Social and Liberal Democrats . . UK . 1988 . 868375241.
  7. Book: Lee Williams . Geoffrey . Lee Williams . Alan . The beginning of the end . https://books.google.com/books?id=sTiwCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA151 . Labour's decline and the Social Democrat's fall . 151 . Macmillan . Basingstoke . 1989 . 9781349199488.
  8. Book: Douglas, Roy . Roy Douglas (academic)

    . Roy Douglas (academic) . Alliance and fusion . https://books.google.com/books?id=vnWvAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA296 . Liberals: a history of the Liberal and Liberal Democrat Parties . 296 . Hambledon and London . London New York . 2005 . 9780826443427 .

  9. News: Executive Profile: Hugo Dixon . . 2 November 2018.
  10. News: Sabbagh . Dan . Business big shot: Hugo Dixon . . 15 October 2009 . 2 November 2018.
  11. News: Ross Sorkin . Andrew . Cloak, dagger and mouse: a columnist defects to the web . . 7 August 2000 . 2 November 2018.
  12. News: Sweney . Mark . Breakingviews founder Hugo Dixon to step back from editor role . . 17 October 2012 . 2 November 2018.
  13. News: Perez-Pena . Richard . Thomson Reuters to buy business commentary site . . 14 October 2009 . 2 November 2018.
  14. News: O'Shea . Mark . 17 October 2012 . Reuters makes editor changes . . 2 November 2018.
  15. Web site: Hugo Dixon . 1 August 2023 . Breakingviews.
  16. Web site: Hugo Dixon . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20180828022723/https://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/community/people/hugo-dixon . 28 August 2018 . Saïd Business School . Internet Archive.
  17. News: Dixon . Hugo . Bad deal or no-deal Brexit? There is a third way . . 20 August 2018 . 2 November 2018.
  18. News: Snoddy . Ray . Hugo Dixon . In Publishing . 3 February 2017 . 2 November 2018.
  19. News: Payne . Adam . The EU referendum is ridiculous and it should not be taking place . . 22 June 2016 . 2 November 2018.
  20. News: Hugo Dixon . The Guardian. en. 19 February 2019.
  21. News: Hugo Dixon. The Independent. en. 19 February 2019.
  22. Web site: Hugo Dixon. infacts.org. InFacts. en-GB. 19 February 2019.
  23. News: Press Gazette . Press Gazette . British Press Awards Past Winners . pressgazette.co.uk . . 29 November 2007 . 2 November 2018.
  24. News: McNally . Paul . Hat trick for Bloomberg, BBC, and FT at business awards . pressgazette.co.uk . . 25 April 2008 . 2 November 2018.

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