Matthew John Symonds (born 20 December 1953) is a British journalist and, since 2018, the executive director of the

Larry Ellison Lawrence Joseph Ellison (born August 17, 1944) is an American business magnate and investor who is the co-founder, executive chairman, chief technology officer (CTO) and former chief executive officer (CEO) of the American computer technology ...

Foundation. He was a co-founder of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' in 1986. Born in 1953, Symonds is the son of John Beavan,Anne Symonds, Broadcaster
(obituary) in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'', 6 March 2017 who at the time was London editor of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', and BBC World Service broadcaster

Anne Symonds Anne Hilda Symonds ('' née'' Harrisson; 22 August 1916 – 6 February 2017) was an English broadcaster on culture and politics for the BBC World Service. Early life Symonds was born in Liverpool on 22 August 1916, the second child of Major ...

. He worked for the Mirror group, the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...

'', and ''

'', which he joined in November 1981 as economics leader writer, before in 1986 becoming a co-founder of ''The Independent'',Isabel Wolff
How We Met
in ''The Independent'' dated with 18 February 1996, accessed 24 June 2019 with

Andreas Whittam Smith Sir Andreas Whittam Smith, (born 13 June 1937) is an English financial journalist, who was one of the founders of ''The Independent'' newspaper, which began publication in October 1986 with Whittam Smith as editor. He is a former president of th ...

and Stephen Glover. The three had worked together at ''The Daily Telegraph'' and had all left the newspaper towards the end of Lord Hartwell's ownership of it. After leaving ''The Independent'', Symonds was appointed as strategy director of

BBC World Service Television BBC World Service Television, often abbreviated to WSTV (World Service Television), was the name of two BBC international satellite television channels between 1991 and 1995. It was the BBC's first foray into worldwide television broadcasting. I ...

, then from 1996 to 2018 was on the staff of ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...

''. While there, he received the Wincott Prize for financial journalism in 1998, and went on to serve as the magazine's political editor and technology editor, before his last job for it, as defence and diplomatic editor. Symonds said of himself in 1996 that he was an economic liberal, believing in the market, but also in individual liberty and freedom. He wrote that "...the only way in which you can find efficient and humane solutions to problems is to give people as much information and as much power over their own lives as possible." Symonds has a wife and three children. In 1988, he had a daughter, Carrie Symonds, with Josephine McAfee, a lawyer at ''The Independent''. Their daughter is now married to the former British Prime Minister

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

Selected publication

*''Softwar: an intimate portrait of Larry Ellison and Oracle'' (Simon & Schuster, 2003, )Matthew Symonds
at simonandschuster.com/authors, accessed 24 June 2019

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Symonds, Matthew 1953 births 20th-century British journalists 21st-century British journalists Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford BBC executives Financial Times people Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Sons of life peers The Daily Telegraph people The Independent founders Charters Symonds family Boris Johnson family