Lionel Barber
About Lionel Barber
Speech topics
What makes a great businessman or women?
Speaking videos
Media coverage
'It’s like retreating into your own private world’: Lionel Barber on cycling
For the former FT editor, nothing beats taking to two wheels
Lionel Barber on his tenure as Financial Times editor, why his paper appeals to millennials, and the correct journalistic response to Trump and Brexit
ionel Barber has been editor of the Financial Times since 2005—a tenure that seems unimaginably long for a modern newspaper editor. In his nearly 15 years at the helm, he has covered the financial crisis of 2008, Brexit, and the election of Donald Trump, all amidst the rapid decline of traditional news media.
FT editor Lionel Barber says UK government fought 'incredibly inept ...
Lionel Barber, the editor of the Financial Times, has criticised the UK government's "incredibly inept" campaign to remain in the European Union.
Lionel Barber
Lionel Barber is the editor of the Financial Times. Since his appointment in 2005, Barber has helped to transform the FT from a newspaper publisher into a ...
Britain after Brexit: Lionel Barber's lecture in Tokyo
Britain after Brexit: Lionel Barber's lecture in Tokyo. The FT editor looks back on the referendum and forward to the possible outcomes. Lionel Barber. Image of ...
Books by Lionel Barber
“Gambling Man: The Secret Story of the World's Greatest Disruptor, Masayoshi Son” (2025)
As Wall Street swooned and boomed through the last decade, our livelihoods have—now more than ever—come to rely upon the good sense and risk appetites of a few standout investors. And amidst the BlackRocks, Vanguards, and Berkshire Hathaways stands arguably the most iconoclastic of them all: SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son. In Gambling Man, the first Western biography of Son, the self-professed unicorn hunter, we go behind the scenes of the world’s most monied halls of power in New York, Tokyo, Silicon Valley, Saudi Arabia, and beyond to see how Son’s firm SoftBank has defied conventional wisdom and imposing odds to push global tech and commerce into the future. From the dizzying highs of Uber, DoorDash, and Slack to the epic lows of WeWork and tech-infused dogwalking app Wag Son and SoftBank have been at the center of cutting-edge capitalism’s absolute peaks and valleys. In the process, Son, son of a pachinko kingpin who grew up in a slum in Japan, has been a hero, a villain, and even a meme-ified hero to the internet tech- and finance-bro set all at once. Based on in-depth research and eye-opening interviews, Gambling Man is an unforgettable character study and alarming true story of twenty-first-century commerce that will stick with you long after you turn the final page.
“The Powerful and the Damned: Private Diaries in Turbulent Times” (2021)
Lionel Barber was Editor of the Financial Times for the tech boom, the global financial crisis, the rise of China, Brexit, and mainstream media's fight for survival in the age of fake news. In this unparalleled, no-holds-barred diary of life behind the headlines, he reveals the private meetings and exchanges with political leaders on the eve of referendums, the conversations with billionaire bankers facing economic meltdown, exchanges with Silicon Valley tech gurus, and pleas from foreign emissaries desperate for inside knowledge, all against the backdrop of a wildly shifting media landscape.
“Lunch with the FT 2” (2020)
Lunch with the Financial Times has been a permanent fixture in the Financial Times for almost 25 years, featuring presidents, film stars, musical icons and business leaders from around the world. The column is now as well-established institution which has reinvigorated the art of conversation in the convivial, intimate environment of a long boozy lunch. On its 25th anniversary, Lunch with the Financial Times 2 will showcase the most entertaining, incisive and fascinating interviews from the past five years including those with Donald Trump, Sheryl Sandberg, Richard Branson, Yanis Varoufakis, Zadie Smith, Nigel Farage, Russell Brand and David Guetta, illustrated in full colour with James Ferguson's famous portraits.
“Lunch with the FT: 52 Classic Interviews” (2013)
From film stars to politicians, tycoons to writers, dissidents to lifestyle gurus, Lunch with the FT gathers fifty-two fascinating interviews conducted at the unforgiving proximity of a restaurant table. The list of people who have participated in this popular feature since 1994 reads like an international Who’s Who of our times. Meet the rich and famous, the weird and the brilliant, the brave and the virtuous, all brought to you by the Financial Times’ global network of columnists and correspondents. This book brings you right to the table to decide what you think of Angela Merkel or Martin Amis, George Soros or Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Angelina Jolie or Jimmy Carter. Meet not just oligarchs and royals, but the co-founder of Apple, the codiscoverer of DNA, the tycoon who will pay African presidents to quit, and one of the Arab world’s most notorious sons. Every interview is illustrated with a drawing of its subject, making this collection as visually impressive as it is enlightening and fun to read.
At a glanceLionel Barber
Recommended offer:
Get a custom quote for your event:
Get StartedBrowse Similar Speakers
Speaker Search is a marketplace of speakers designed for talent buyers. We do not represent or manage speakers; instead, we provide event planners with the most comprehensive resource to discover and book the right talent.