Jonathan Faiman
Jonathan Faiman | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1969 |
| Occupation(s) | Businessman, entrepreneur |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Known for | Co-founder of Ocado, founder of Today Development Partners (TDP) |
Jonathan Faiman (born 1969) was among the trio who established the online grocery and technology enterprise Ocado in 2000. He departed in 2008, prior to Ocado's London Stock Exchange debut, divesting most of his shares during its 2010 IPO for approximately £7 million. By May 2020, those shares’ value had surged to more than £500 million.
In 2018, Faiman launched Today Development Partners (TDP or T0DAY), another online grocery venture intended to compete with Ocado. The firm became embroiled in legal disputes when, in July 2019, Ocado filed a lawsuit against Faiman, accusing him of conspiring with a senior Ocado employee to misappropriate confidential information for T0DAY’s launch. The matter was resolved in June 2021 after Faiman acknowledged misconduct and made a "significant payment" to Ocado. The High Court imposed a permanent injunction barring Faiman from utilizing the proprietary information. The status of TDP remains unclear.
Career
Faiman initiated his professional journey at Goldman Sachs as a bond trader before co-founding Ocado in 2000 alongside fellow Goldman Sachs colleagues Jason Gissing and Tim Steiner. He exited Ocado in 2008 and stepped down from the board by 2010. Since then, Ocado has evolved into a FTSE 100 company specializing in online grocery and technology, with a valuation approaching £15 billion.
Following his departure from Ocado, Faiman ventured into wheat farming operations in Ukraine. In 2015, he assumed control of Neos Geosolutions, a company dedicated to leveraging geological data to uncover new onshore oil and gas deposits. Despite investment support from prominent backers such as Bill Gates, Goldman Sachs, and Kleiner Perkins, Neos collapsed in 2018, resulting in investor litigation that was ultimately resolved through out-of-court settlements.
In 2018, Faiman founded T0DAY, which entered negotiations with Waitrose in 2019 to become its online retail partner after Ocado ended its two-decade association with Waitrose in favor of Marks and Spencer. However, Waitrose ceased discussions in July 2019 following the discovery of confidential Ocado documents in Faiman’s possession during court proceedings. This led Ocado to initiate legal action against Faiman, TDP, and Jon Hillary over allegations of intellectual property theft.
By March 2022, TDP was placed into administration, with Ocado acquiring certain assets from the company.
Litigation
In June 2019, Ocado obtained a court order permitting searches of T0DAY’s offices as well as the homes of co-founder Jonathan Faiman and Jon Hilary, a senior employee at Ocado, amid suspicions of misappropriating confidential data. The searches revealed hundreds of documents including Ocado contracts, presentation materials, and automated warehouse designs. Both Faiman and Hilary admitted to collaborating and exploiting Ocado’s proprietary business information to advance T0DAY’s offerings while Hilary remained employed by Ocado. Hilary conceded breaching his contractual obligations; however, Faiman disputed the significance of the stolen data for their purposes.
The case attracted extensive media coverage throughout 2019–2021. Resolution came in June 2021 following admissions that Hilary provided a "significant number" of confidential documents to Faiman at his request while still employed by Ocado. Faiman reportedly compensated Ocado substantially and covered legal costs estimated at £1.75 million.
In June 2020, Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko initiated legal proceedings against Faiman over unpaid debts amounting to £57 million. During a High Court session, Faiman revealed that his supermarket technology business T0DAY faced imminent collapse due to inability to service this liability. By September 2020, Faiman’s assets were frozen amid ongoing disputes. Melnichenko’s US-based legal team sought access to Faiman’s banking records aiming to trace allegedly misappropriated funds and prevent their dissipation.