Business

Former Baltimore Technologies, FAI CEO Fran Rooney has died

Under Rooney, Baltimore became one of the most valuable companies in history of the State

As chief executive of Baltimore Technologies Fran Rooney was among the most high profile businessmen in the country. Photograph: Pat Langan

Peter Flanagan
Tue May 21 2024 - 22:07

Businessman Fran Rooney, who led Baltimore Technologies to a multibillion dollar valuation during the dot-com boom of the start of this century and went on to lead the FAI, in the period after the 2002 World Cup, has died.

Mr Rooney died on Monday, according to a notice posted on RIP.ie. He was 67. His funeral will take place on Friday.

An accountant by training, Mr Rooney worked in several government departments and National Irish Bank, before setting up Meridian International, a VAT processing company. Along with a group of investors, he bought Baltimore Technologies for the equivalent of about €381,000 in 1996.

The takeover coincided with the start of the boom in internet-related companies, and as a data security business Baltimore was in high demand. Expanding rapidly, Baltimore listed on the Nasdaq in New York in 1999.

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Amid the hype of what would later be dubbed the internet bubble, the company’s market capitalisation ballooned to more than $13 billion (€12 billion) before plunging as the bubble burst across the sector. Mr Rooney stepped down as chief executive in 2001.

An accomplished footballer, Mr Rooney played for Home Farm, Shamrock Rovers, St Patrick’s Athletic and Bohemians before going into business.

He became chief executive of the FAI in 2003, in part to implement the findings of the Genesis report commissioned in the wake of the Saipan saga a year earlier, when Roy Keane quit the squad in the run up to the Japan World Cup after falling out with manager Mick McCarthy. Mr Rooney left the association in 2004.

He will be removed to the Church of Our Lady Mother of the Church, Castleknock on Friday morning arriving for Requiem Mass at 11am followed by cremation in Newlands Cross Crematorium.

Peter Flanagan

Peter Flanagan

Peter Flanagan is an Assistant Business Editor at The Irish Times

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