An Oxford college is in line for a multi-million pound windfall after academic David Landau netted a fortune by selling his company.

College Fellow David Landau is celebrating a 60m credit to his bank balance after selling his free ads group Loot.

"I will certainly be making a donation to Worcester College, which could be millions of pounds," he said.

Dr Landau, 50, who has been a Fellow at Worcester for the past 20 years, was feeling in a generous mood after the free advertising newspaper group Loot, which he founded, was sold for 190m to online directories company Scoot.com.

The businessman will continue to combine his role of chairman at Loot with a day a week at the college, where he advises on finances. He is chairman of an investment and finances committee and Curator of Pictures. A fellow of Wolfson College for two years before moving to Worcester College, Dr Landau came to Oxford because of his love of art history.

When he is not managing Loot, or handing out business advice, he can be found admiring the artwork at the Ashmolean Museum, or taking a stroll through the gardens of Worcester College.

Dr Landau said his wealth would not provide him with any more influence among the Fellows at Worcester.

He added: "I have always had a very good relationship with the other Fellows and we try to do things by consensus and agreement."

"I am very pleased with the deal," he said. "But it hasn't quite sunk in yet.

"I may invest some of the money in a new business venture and I will certainly buy shares in Scoot.com, which I think will be very successful."

Dr Landau says he loves spending time in Oxford, where he admires "the theatricality" of the city's buildings. Born in Israel, his family moved to Italy when he was four. He trained as a doctor.

Business hasn't always come easy to him, though - an Italian ice-cream venture he launched near Harrods in the 1980s failed because of the British weather.

"We were very unlucky - it was one of those summers when it didn't stop raining," he admitted.

Loot was started after Dr Landau picked up a classified ads magazine at Milan airport, mistakenly believing it to be about art history.

He said: "Then I started Loot and I'm very pleased that I did, because it has proved to be very successful."

Dr Landau lives in St John's Wood, London.