He then returned to Ireland to work for a few months at Independent News & Media, the public company led by his father, before being moved to Australia, to a sales role on the regional side of APN News & Media, in which the O'Reilly family (via a trust) and Independent had invested.
After working in sales from 1988 to 1991, he was appointed general manager of the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin from 1991 to 1992, then deputy CEO of APN.
[1] In May 1996, O'Reilly was appointed CEO of APN, and directed a programme of acquisition and development over several years, increasing interests in radio and other channels, while approaching the internet area cautiously.
In October 1999, O'Reilly announced that he would leave his executive role at APN to pursue private business interests, and he did so in July 2000, moving to Grenoble in France.
[citation needed] In 2002, O'Reilly returned to Australia, where he received the Governor Peace Award in November.
O'Reilly developed Bayard with a focus on investments that leveraged growing shortages of energy and water, including metering technology, and by 2008, the Bayard group of companies employed over 5000 people across 30 countries, with a turnover of in excess of US$1.2 billion and EBITDA earnings in excess of US$200 million.
[5] One of its major holdings was Landis + Gyr, the world's largest electrical metering company, and the entire group was renamed to Landis+Gyr in early 2008.