Chris Dawson (businessman)

Last updated

Chris Dawson
Chris Dawson & Peter Jones on set on Peter Jones Meets.jpg
Dawson (left) and Peter Jones (right) in 2012
Born
Christopher Frederick Dawson

(1952-02-15) 15 February 1952 (age 72)
Plymouth, England
Education Plymstock School
OccupationBusinessman
Known forFounder, owner, and executive chairman, The Range
Owner of Wilko branding
SpouseSarah Dawson
Children2

Christopher Frederick Dawson (born 15 February 1952) is a British billionaire businessman; founder, owner and executive chairman of the British retail chains The Range and the owner of the Wilko brand. The ultimate owner is Dawson's wife, who registers as a resident in Jersey, a place that offers tax savings over UK resident individuals. [1]

Contents

According to the Sunday Times Rich List in 2022, Dawson and his family are worth £2.25 billion, an increase of £200 million from 2021. [2] [3]

Early life

Dawson was born in Plymouth, Devon, the son of a market trader. He attended Hooe Primary School and then Plymstock School. Dawson attended school irregularly, struggled with dyslexia, and left at 15 years old with few qualifications. [4] [5] He has since returned to Hooe Primary School to discuss business studies with students. [6]

Career

Dawson started as a market trader in Plymouth. He sold seafood from the back of a van with his father, and later started his own venture selling perfume and jewellery from a suitcase. [5] [7]

CDS Stores

Dawson started CDS Superstores (Chris Dawson Superstores) in 1989, and opened an outlet store in Sugar Mill Business Park in Plymouth called 'The Range Home, Garden & Leisure'. The store sold toys, home wares, DIY equipment and Jewellery. [5]

The Range

A 'The Range Home, Garden & Leisure' brand store was opened in Cardiff in February 2000; Dawson later bought the business park where this store sits. [8] The Range was featured in The Sunday Times Top Track 250 companies from 2003 to 2012, once ranking at number 48. [9] In 2015 the retail chain has about 100 stores, all of which are owned directly by Dawson. [4]

Dawson's CDS Superstores International company started a subsidiary, CDS Group Services, a shop fitting company that has clients that include Lego, Lush Cosmetics, Levi's jeans and sister company The Range. CDS Group Services was listed in twelfth place in the Real Business Hot 100 Companies in 2012. [10]

Awards and recognition

Dawson was an ambassador for the Channel 4 Jobs Report in 2012, named the Ernst & Young Overall Entrepreneur of the Year in 2011, and in the same year advised the Prime Minister David Cameron on issues facing growing businesses. [11] [12] [13] In 2012 he was interviewed by Justin Leigh on BBC Radio Devon. [14]

Chris Dawson accepts his Ernst & Young awards Chris Dawson accepts his Ernst & Young awards.jpg
Chris Dawson accepts his Ernst & Young awards

Dawson was interviewed in 2013 for the series Peter Jones Meets. [15] [16]

In 2013, Dawson's businesses had an estimated worth to 585 million pounds. [5] [17] He has established several other companies involved in property, dry cleaning, manufacturing and waste management services. [18]

In April 2015, the Sunday Times Rich List reported that his net worth was £1.65 billion which by March 2017 had increased to nearly £2.0 billion. [19]

In 2019, Dawson handed all his shares to his wife Sarah Dawson, who resides in Jersey for tax purposes. [1] [20]

Personal life

Dawson lives in Plymouth with his wife Sarah. They have two children who also work for The Range family business. [5]

As of 2023 he owns a yellow Lamborghini Urus with the personalised number plate "DE11 BOY", a reference to the fictional character Del Boy Trotter. [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Green</span> British businessman (born 1952)

Sir Philip Nigel Ross Green is a British businessman who was the chairman of the retail company Arcadia Group. He owned the high street clothing retailers Topshop, Topman, and Miss Selfridge from 2002 to 2020. In May 2023, his net worth was estimated by the Sunday Times Rich List to be £910 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Specsavers</span> British retail brand

Specsavers Optical Group Ltd is a British multinational optical retail chain, which operates mainly in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and the Nordic countries. The chain offers optometry and optician services for eyesight testing and sells glasses, sunglasses, and contact lenses. It also sells hearing aids. In the United Kingdom in 2012 it had the largest single market share of the four major opticians, with 42% of the market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big-box store</span> Physically large retail establishment

A big-box store is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The term "big-box" references the typical appearance of buildings occupied by such stores.

Sir Thomas Blane Hunter is a Scottish businessman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.

Plymstock School is a state comprehensive secondary school in Plymstock, a suburb of Plymouth, Devon, England. It was the first West Devon comprehensive school and is now a Specialist Sports College. As of January 2011 it has 1,626 students, of whom 240 are in the sixth form. In April 2011, the school became an academy.

David Reuben and Simon Reuben are British businessmen. In 2023, they were named as the fourth richest family in the UK by the Sunday Times Rich List with a net worth of £24.4 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Range (retailer)</span> Retail department store chain

The Range is a multi-channel retailer selling products in the home, garden, and leisure categories, with over 210 stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Ashley (businessman)</span> British entrepreneur (born 1964)

Michael James Wallace Ashley is a British retail entrepreneur who is the founder and former chief executive of Frasers Group Plc. He owned the Newcastle United football club between 2007 and 2021. According to The Sunday Times Rich List in 2021, Ashley is the 61st richest person in the UK with an estimated net worth of £2.718 billion. In August 2021, Ashley announced that he intended to step down as CEO of Frasers Group Plc in May 2022, but would remain a director of the main Board.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Ratcliffe</span> British engineer and businessman (born 1952)

Sir James Arthur Ratcliffe is a British billionaire, chemical engineer, and businessman. Ratcliffe is the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the INEOS chemicals group, which he founded in 1998. The company is estimated to have had a turnover of $65 billion in 2021. He does not have a high public profile, and was once described by The Sunday Times as "publicity shy". In May 2018, Ratcliffe was the richest person in the UK, with a net worth of £21.05 billion. As of May 2023, the Sunday Times Rich List 2023 estimated his net worth at £29.688 billion, making him the second wealthiest figure in the UK. In September 2020, Ratcliffe officially changed his tax residence from Hampshire to Monaco, a move that it is estimated will save him £4 billion in tax.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farhad Moshiri</span> British-Iranian businessman (born 1955)

Ardavan Farhad Moshiri is a British-Iranian businessman based in Monaco. He is the majority owner and board member of English Premier League team Everton FC, and is the former chairman of USM Holdings, a Russian holding company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hooe, Plymouth</span> Suburb of Plymouth, Devon

Hooe is a suburb of Plymstock, Plymouth in the English county of Devon.

Dame Mary Lesley Perkins, is an English billionaire who is the co-founder of Specsavers, the British retail optometry chain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vergo Retail</span> Former department store company

Vergo Retail Ltd was a department store business based in Liverpool, England, founded in 2007. Vergo Retail ran 20 shops, consisting of nine department stores, including Lewis's of Liverpool, Robbs of Hexham, Joplings of Sunderland and Derrys of Plymouth and four others in Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk; four Homemaker stores in Devon, four home and fashion stores in Essex and Suffolk; two home stores in Essex; and a jewellery store in Colchester. The company entered administration in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">B&M</span> Variety retailers in the United Kingdom

B&M European Value Retail S.A., trading as B&M, is a British multinational variety store chain founded in 1978 and incorporated in Luxembourg. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Whittaker (businessman)</span> British billionaire businessman (born 1942)

John Whittaker is a British billionaire. He is chairman of the Peel Group, a property business that mainly invests in North West England. Although publicity-shy, he has been described as one of the most influential business leaders for Greater Manchester and the North West by the Manchester Evening News (2007), and was named the most influential northerner by The Big Issue magazine in 2010.

Cristina Stuart Green, Lady Green, known as Tina Green, is an English businesswoman and interior designer. Green is the director of Taveta, the majority owner of Taveta Investments Ltd, the parent company of the Arcadia Group, of which her husband, Sir Philip Green, is chairman. The Arcadia Group owned the clothing retail chains Topshop and Topman, as well as Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Outfit, and Wallis. Taveta owned British Homes Stores (BHS) before its 2015 sale. BHS was placed into administration in 2016, and the Arcadia Group was placed into administration in 2020. Green formed the interior design company Green & Mingarelli with the Italian designer Pietro Mingarelli.

Thomas Joseph Morris is a British billionaire businessman and the founder of retail chain Home Bargains.

Philip Edward Day is a Dubai-based British billionaire businessman, and the CEO and owner of The Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group, which owns Peacocks, Jaeger, Jane Norman, Austin Reed, and other high-street retailers.

Mohsin Issa CBE and Zuber Issa CBE are British-Indian billionaire brothers and businessmen who founded Euro Garages in 2001, a Blackburn-based operator of filling stations, convenience stores and food service providers across Europe, the United States and Australia. In 2020, as part of a consortium with TDR Capital, the brothers became majority stakeholders in the British supermarket chain Asda.

References

  1. 1 2 Morgan-Bentley, Paul (13 April 2019). "The Range boss Chris Dawson hands business to his wife saving millions in tax". The Times. Archived from the original on 30 August 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  2. ↑ "Rich List 2022". The Sunday Times . ISSN   0956-1382 . Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  3. ↑ Telford, William (20 May 2022). "Range retail magnate Chris Dawson now worth £2.25bn". PlymouthLive. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  4. 1 2 Johnston, Ian (11 May 2014). "Super-Rich List: Britain's newest billionaire Chris Dawson is a real-life Del Boy". The Independent. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "The MT Interview: Chris Dawson". Management Today. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  6. ↑ "Entrepreneur Chris Dawson goes back to school | Devon Live". thisisdevon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 1 September 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  7. ↑ "Chris Dawson | Retail Week". retail-week.com. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  8. ↑ "Chris Dawson buys Plymouth retail park and vows to rename it | Plymouth Herald". thisisplymouth.co.uk. Archived from the original on 3 August 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  9. ↑ The Range – Company search results Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Fast Track.
  10. ↑ "Hot 100 2012 – 12: CDS Group Services". Real Business. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  11. ↑ "Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2011 Award Recipients" (PDF). Ernst & Young. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  12. ↑ "Channel 4 reveals Jobs Ambassadors – Channel 4 News". Channel 4. 14 March 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  13. ↑ "500 business leaders tell David Cameron to negotiate a better deal with Europe". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  14. ↑ "BBC Radio Devon – Justin Leigh, in conversation..." BBC. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  15. ↑ "BBC Two – Peter Jones Meets..., Series 1, Episode 1". BBC. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  16. ↑ "Latest Devon News | DevonLive.com". thisisdevon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 June 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  17. ↑ "'Del Boy' Dawson rockets up the Rich List | West Country – ITV News". itv.com. 21 April 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  18. ↑ "Chris Dawson | The Times & The Sunday Times". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  19. ↑ Sabur, Rozina (2 May 2017). "Self-styled Del Boy who cannot read or write and former Miss GB among top 10 richest couples in UK". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 13 April 2019.
  20. ↑ Telford, William (27 January 2020). "Billionaire Chris Dawson gets richer - but pays £5m less in tax". plymouthherald. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  21. ↑ Whitworth, Damian (19 May 2014). "The life and times of a 'Del Boy' billionaire". The Times. Archived from the original on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.