Who Is Noam Lanir? Founder of Empire Online, CEO of Livermore

The Builders  |  Olam.business

Updated June 14, 2026

Few Israeli fortunes began in online gaming and later moved into long-duration public-market investing. Noam Lanir's did. Son of an Israeli Air Force hero, founder of one of the country's early internet exits, and today the controlling shareholder of a London-listed investment firm, his arc is one of the more unusual capital stories in Israeli business — and his civic life has run alongside it the whole way.

Empire Online created the first fortune. Livermore Investments became the long-term investment vehicle. They are two distinct companies, in two distinct phases of his career, and it is worth keeping them straight.

Noam Lanir's life starts with a story most Israelis know without needing it explained. His father, Lieutenant Colonel Avraham (Avi) Lanir, was a fighter pilot and squadron commander in the Israel Air Force. Shot down over Syria during the Yom Kippur War in 1973, he was captured, interrogated under torture, and killed — refusing, by every official account, to reveal the operational secrets he carried.

That biographical anchor matters because Lanir's adult life has been spent building, not in defense or government, but in the most commercial corners of the Israeli business landscape — and, alongside that, in an unusually broad civic life. He is a strongly Zionist figure with a long record of projects supporting Israeli soldiers, hospitals, social welfare, and Jewish communal causes. During the war he was publicly involved in logistics and equipment for IDF units, including bringing in shipments of protective gear. The civic work has run in parallel with the businesses for decades, not as a late-career philanthropic chapter.

Snapshot

Born	February 18, 1967, Haifa, Israel
Father	Lt. Col. Avraham (Avi) Lanir — IAF fighter pilot, Yom Kippur War POW killed in Syria
First company	Empire Online — founded 1998, AIM-listed 2005 at ~$1B valuation
Main company today	Livermore Investments Group (AIM: LIV) — CEO and controlling shareholder (~74%)
Also owns	Shino Aviation — Israeli private jet leasing and charter
Sector	Public-markets investment, technology, real estate, private aviation
Based in	Bnei Zion, Israel
Civic record	Strongly Zionist; long record of civic, philanthropic, and IDF-supporting projects across Israeli society

The Business Story

Lanir grew up partly at Hatzor Air Force Base, where his father served. After his father's death in 1973, he completed high school in Ramat Hasharon. He enlisted in the IAF pilot training course but dropped out after a year, and served his military service in the unmanned aerial vehicle unit of the IDF Intelligence Corps.

His business career began in 1990 as an owner and operator of some of Tel Aviv's most iconic nightclubs. By the early 1990s, he was widely regarded as one of the leading figures in Israeli nightlife. The pivot came in 1998, when he founded Empire Online — an internet marketing company that built one of the largest customer-acquisition platforms for online gambling, anchored in a partnership with PartyPoker, then the dominant operator in the category.

Empire Online listed on London's AIM market in June 2005 at a valuation around $1 billion. At the time of listing, Lanir's stake was reportedly valued at more than $223 million. The 2006 US legislation effectively banning American banks from processing online gambling payments reshaped the industry. PartyGaming consolidated, and Empire Online sold its remaining stake to PartyGaming for $40 million in late 2006. Lanir later reportedly received an additional $250 million as part of a settlement resolving a dispute with a business partner.

Empire Online and Livermore Investments are different chapters of the same story. After the gambling business was sold, the listed company was restructured and renamed Livermore Investments Group, trading on AIM under the symbol LIV. Livermore is an investment firm holding positions in fixed income, real estate, private equity, and technology. Lanir is its CEO and holds approximately 74% of its shares. Insiders collectively own approximately 90%.

Outside Livermore, Lanir acquired the controlling stake in Babylon Ltd — the Israeli translation-software company — in a 2011 transaction, and held it until selling most of his position in 2019 to the Tamim Alpha Fund. He has been an active angel investor across Israeli technology, including stakes in Internet medical tourism and other private ventures. He also owns and operates Shino Aviation, one of Israel's leading private aviation companies, focused on private jet leasing and charter services.

Why Lanir Matters in Israel

Lanir is one of the cleaner Israeli examples of internet-era wealth converted into long-duration capital. The Empire Online story is largely a transaction from twenty years ago. The Livermore platform is still operating, still listed, still allocating capital. That is rarer than it sounds — many of his Israeli internet-fortune contemporaries did not preserve their wealth into vehicles that continued to compound.

He is also, by reputation and record, a strongly Zionist figure who has used his resources to support Israeli soldiers, civilian infrastructure, hospitals, and educational and welfare causes. The civic work is broad-based — covering frontline IDF support, philanthropy in Israeli social welfare, and quieter sponsorship of communal projects — and has run continuously alongside the businesses rather than as a late-stage chapter.

What Livermore Does Today

Livermore Investments Group is a London-listed investment firm. Its portfolio is concentrated in structured credit, collateralized loan obligations, fixed income, real estate, and selected technology positions. The firm operates with a small team and high insider ownership.

Outside Livermore, Lanir maintains active positions in Israeli technology and consumer-tech, real estate holdings in Israel and abroad, ownership and operation of Shino Aviation in private jet leasing and charter, and a broader private investment portfolio.

Lanir's Key Holdings

• Livermore Investments Group (AIM: LIV) — CEO, ~74% controlling shareholder
• Shino Aviation — Israeli private aviation; private jet leasing and charter
• Real estate holdings in Israel and abroad
• Private investments across Israeli technology and consumer-tech sectors
• Civic and philanthropic projects across Israeli society — including IDF support, hospitals, education, welfare
• Babylon Ltd. — Israeli translation software (controlling shareholder 2011–2019; exited)

Lanir's Legacy and Influence

Lanir's career is one of the unusually durable arcs in Israeli internet wealth. The Empire Online platform is gone, sold and consolidated decades ago. The Livermore platform that succeeded it remains. The capital is still working.

Combined with the family biography — his father's status as one of the IAF's most respected fallen officers — and with the breadth of his civic record, Lanir occupies an unusual register in Israeli business: visible enough to be in the right rooms, private enough to avoid the noise, capable enough to keep compounding, and consistently active in support of Israeli society.

Why Lanir Matters Now

In 2026, with Israeli capital markets navigating heightened geopolitical risk and Israeli private wealth increasingly looking for durable public-market vehicles, the Livermore model — a London-listed Israeli-controlled investment firm with a long-term holding orientation — represents one variant of how Israeli internet wealth migrates into the next phase. Lanir is one of the people running it.

He started in Tel Aviv nightlife. He kept the proceeds working. The platform is still on the market. The civic work has continued without interruption.

FAQ

Who is Noam Lanir?
Noam Lanir (born February 18, 1967, Haifa) is an Israeli entrepreneur and the founder, CEO, and ~74% controlling shareholder of London-listed Livermore Investments Group (AIM: LIV). He founded the company in 1998 as Empire Online, an internet marketing platform for online gaming, which floated on London's AIM in 2005 at a ~$1B valuation. The company was restructured and renamed Livermore Investments after exiting gaming in 2006.

Who was Avraham Lanir, Noam Lanir's father?
Lieutenant Colonel Avraham (Avi) Lanir was an Israel Air Force fighter pilot and squadron commander. He was shot down over Syria during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, captured, interrogated under torture, and killed — refusing to reveal the operational secrets he carried. He is one of the most respected fallen officers in IAF history. Noam Lanir was six years old when his father was killed.

What is Livermore Investments Group?
Livermore Investments Group Ltd (AIM: LIV) is a London-listed investment firm controlled by Noam Lanir, who serves as CEO and holds approximately 74% of shares. Insiders collectively own approximately 90%. The portfolio is concentrated in structured credit, collateralized loan obligations, fixed income, real estate, and selected technology positions. The company was formed in 2006 when Empire Online exited online gaming.

What happened to Empire Online?
Empire Online was founded by Noam Lanir in 1998 as an internet marketing company anchored in a partnership with PartyPoker. It listed on London's AIM in June 2005 at a valuation around $1 billion. After the 2006 US legislation effectively banning American banks from processing online gambling payments, Empire Online sold its remaining gaming stake to PartyGaming for $40 million in late 2006. The listed entity was then restructured as Livermore Investments Group.

What was Noam Lanir's role at Babylon Ltd?
Lanir acquired a controlling stake in Babylon Ltd — the Israeli translation-software company traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange — in a 2011 transaction reportedly worth around $10.5 million. He held the position until selling most of it to the Tamim Alpha Fund in 2019.

Why is Noam Lanir well known in Israel?
Three reasons. First, his father Avraham Lanir is one of the most respected fallen Israeli Air Force officers. Second, Lanir was a leading figure in 1990s Tel Aviv nightlife before pivoting to one of Israel's early internet-era exits with Empire Online. Third, he has a long, broad civic record supporting IDF soldiers, hospitals, social welfare, and Jewish communal causes — running continuously alongside the businesses for decades.

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The Olam Editorial Team | The Builders / הבונים