Michael O'Doherty (publisher)

For other people named Michael O'Doherty, see Michael O'Doherty (disambiguation).

Michael O'Doherty
Nationality	Irish
Occupation	Publisher
Employer	Self-employed
Known for	His publishing business
Spouse	Single
Parent(s)	Father (d. France, 2008) two brothers, one sister

Michael O'Doherty is a television talent judge, newspaper writer and the publisher of the VIP magazine group in Ireland, now plagued by financial difficulties.

O'Doherty's publishing business includes magazines such as VIP, TV Now, Kiss, Stellar and The Dubliner Magazine.

VIP was until recently edited by O'Doherty's former girlfriend Elaine Prendeville, whose replacement by another employee, Martha Connolly, in March 2014 was followed by an unusually subdued VIP Style Awards 2014 later that month. Ms Connolly, who bears a striking resemblance to Ms Prendeville, was previously best known for her column in Trevor White's "The Dubliner", subsequently acquired by Mr O'Doherty prior to its demise, in which she used the term 'darkies' to refer to African-American sportsmen and stated that she would sooner have cancer than allow herself to be intimately examined by a black doctor.

VIP Group Financial Difficulties

As of July 2014 there were three companies in the VIP Group: Minjara Limited, which published "Kiss" and "VIP", Barndee Limited, which published "Stellar' and "TV Now" and Vymura Limited, a holding company. It appears that Minjara Limited, at least, published VIP under a licence from an unidentified person. O'Doherty and his sister Sarah acted as directors of each company, with shares in Minjara being held by Vymura, a company 100% owned by O'Doherty, who also owns the majority of the shares in Barndee Limited. No company accounts have been filed for any company since 2011, with accounts since 2006 showing a steadily worsening position from an approximate net group surplus of 400,000 Euros in 2006 to -600,000 Euros in 2011.

In August 2014 it was reported that Kiss, a magazine aimed at teenage girls, was to close. Early that same month steps were set in place to withdraw the VIP publication licence from Minjara Limited, and transfer it to a new company, also controlled by O'Doherty, VIP Publications Limited. The offices of VIP were also relocated from Ely Place, Dublin 2, to the fifth floor of a building in Dublin 7.

In September 2014 it was announced in the Irish Independent, a paper for which Mr O'Doherty writes, that MInjara was insolvent and that a creditors' meeting had been called with a view to liquidation. The same article reported that Minjara's licence to publish VIP had been withdrawn the previous month and that a new company, VIP Publishing Limited, had been set up to take over publication of the magazine. The identity of the person with the authority to revoke and regrant the licence was not stated. If in fact this person was Mr O'Doherty, the majority shareholder and common director of all companies within the new group (including VIP Publications Limited), this raises questions for VIP creditors and liquidator as to the recent group restructuring and in particular the withdrawal and re-grant of the licence.

Mr O'Doherty stated that he was in the process of communicating with staff and suppliers of Minjara and did not want to discuss the situation further until this had been completed. To date there has been no official comment from the creditors of Minjara Limited. The directors of Minjara Limited, who as directors of an insolvent company are Michael O'Doherty and his sister Sarah O'Doherty. As directors of an insolvent company in liquidation, they will potentially be liable for restriction orders under the Companies Act following its liquidation.

In addition to the above, O'Doherty has had two failed publishing ventures, New York Dog and The Dubliner.

New York Dog collapse

The idea for the magazine came from a joint business venture by Irish magazine publishers O'Doherty and Ryan. Ryan's publishing company inititally owned the publishing venture Stars on Sunday which folded with losses, whilst O'Doherty still maintained VIP. New York Dog magazine was promoted on The Late Late Show, and was set up alongside a New York City-based website, blogorrah.com, which was described by the Irish Independent as "a sort of Phoenix without portfolio". The site was edited by Derek O'Connor but stopped filing new posts in July 2007. Its closure, and that of New York Dog, was extensively covered by the Irish media, many of whose members had been satirised on Blogorrah. Surprisingly, given his initially much-heralded involvement with 'New York Dog, this coverage failed to mention O'Doherty's joint ownership of this publication, or his role in its demise.

The Dubliner failure

O'Doherty also failed to make a success of The Dubliner magazine, purchased by him in 2008, which ceased publication as an independent magazine in January 2012, eleven years to the day after the first edition hit the newsstands.