Nochi Dankner

Overview

Nochi Dankner was born November 13, 1954, in Tel Aviv, Israel. He is an Israeli businessman known for his role as controlling shareholder of the IDB (Israel Discount Bank) Group, one of Israel's largest conglomerates, and is currently a board member of the Jewish Agency for Israel.

After military service in the Israel Air Force's pilot academy (1972), where he dropped out after a year, Dankner completed officer training and served as a captain in air force intelligence. In the 1970s, he studied law and political science at Tel Aviv University, and after graduation began as a trainee lawyer at the firm of Yigal Arnon & Co., eventually leaving to form the independent firm Dankner-Lusky with advocate Moshe Lusky.

Career History

• 1975: Founded Botticelli, a wine and cheese house in Old Jaffa
• Founded Ganden Tourism and Aviation while still practicing as a lawyer; created airline Israir, which he later sold to IDB in a controversial deal
• 2003: Along with the Livnat and Manor families, acquired control of the IDB Group
• June 2011: Completed takeover of Ma'ariv Holdings through IDB Holding Corp. unit Discount Investment Corporation, appointing himself as director
• 2013: Lost control of IDB Holdings to Eduardo Elsztain and Moti Ben-Moshe

Under Dankner's leadership of IDB, the companies controlled were valued at approximately NIS 400 billion at peak, with holdings including Cellcom, Shufersal, Nesher Cement, and Clal Insurance. At Ma'ariv, Dankner appointed himself along with IDB CEO Haim Gavrieli, Discount Investment president and CEO Ami Erel, and Discount Investment VP Ari Bronshtein as directors. However, the newspaper subsequently burned through NIS 300 million since its acquisition by IDB, compared to annual operating losses of between NIS 70 million and NIS 100 million before his takeover.

In 2017, Dankner was convicted of Securities Fraud for a scheme to inflate his company's stock price to raise money when it was struggling financially. He served 16 months in prison. As of 2025, Dankner serves as chairman and CEO of Hoshen, a company developing technology for cultivating sprouts for animal fodder.

What Nochi Dankner could bring to Ma'ariv Holdings: Dankner's extensive experience building major conglomerates and orchestrating acquisitions across diverse sectors (banking, retail, airlines, real estate, insurance) could have enabled strategic media expansion and portfolio integration. However, his tenure at Ma'ariv demonstrated challenges in operational management of media assets, with significant capital infusions failing to reverse financial deterioration, suggesting that while his acquisition expertise and access to capital were substantial, sustainable media operation management remained problematic.