Stephen Gibson OBE (born 9 January 1958) is a British entrepreneur and the chairman and owner of Middlesbrough Football Club. In May 2020, he was listed 481st on the Sunday Times Rich List, with a net worth of £270 million.^[1][2][3]

Gibson was born in Middlesbrough and raised in the Park End area of the town. Raised Catholic, he attended local schools, St Pius X Primary and St Mary's College. In 1979, he became Middlesbrough's youngest ever Labour councillor, being elected to represent Park End at age 21.^[4] He is the uncle of Norwich defender Ben Gibson.^[5]

In 1981, he founded Bulkhaul Limited, a company dedicated to the global transportation of bulk liquids, powders and gases. He set up the company by borrowing £1,000 from his father.^[6] The company operates from a UK base with Bulkhaul centres and offices worldwide. The company covers the principal global routes in European, Atlantic and Pacific regions, using a sophisticated computerised system to track and monitor its tank units in transit around the world and its own fleet of vehicles, both in the UK, and increasingly in Europe. Bulkhaul ceased manufacturing at Teesside in 2002, but retained its main base of operations in Middlesbrough.^[7][8]

Gibson is the majority owner of the Gibson O'Neill Company Ltd, the holding company for Bulkhaul with a 75% stake. Michael David O'Neill holds the remaining 25%. Gibson O'Neill has an annual turnover of £197,692,000, with annual profits of £29,720,000.^[9] The Gibson O'Neill group includes Bulkhaul, Middlesbrough FC and Rockliffe Hall Hotel. Gibson O'Neill profits increased from £5.9m to £23.7m for the year up to 30 June 2015.^[10]

Before becoming involved with Middlesbrough FC, Gibson was the local Labour Party's youngest ever councillor. He has occasionally raised his profile when commenting on the local political situation. He did so when working with Middlesbrough's elected mayor Ray Mallon in 2009 in the fight to save Teesside's steel industry.^[20] They accused the Government and local Labour MP's of "betrayal", with Gibson quoted as saying: "We have got five Labour seats here. If the steelworkers lose their jobs, we are going to work our socks off to make sure the five MPs lose their jobs. It is an absolute betrayal."^[21]

In October 2015, Gibson launched a scathing attack on Stockton South Conservative MP James Wharton over the collapse of the Redcar steelworks, saying that he would "bury him" if he did not improve. Gibson later made peace with James Wharton and they jointly visited a local school to give a newspaper interview and explain the reconciliation.^[22] In March 2017, Gibson said that he would support the election of Labour's Sue Jeffrey in the forthcoming Tees Valley mayoral election.^[23] In May 2017, Gibson sent out a message of support to thousands of local residents for James Wharton's re-election campaign in the form of a letter.^[24]