Michael Ashley
#711

Michael Ashley

United Kingdom 61 years old Self-Made

Overview

Source of Wealth
Sports retailing
Residence
Hertfordshire
Marital Status
Divorced

Assets

  • Frasers Group PLC
    330,690,000 shares @ -
    -
    FRAS-GB
  • GWW
    23,175,000 shares @ -
    -
    -

Biography

Michael Ashley founded the U.K.'s largest sporting goods retailer, Sports Direct.

Ashley started Sports Direct in 1982 at age 18; it now has some 800 stores.

He took the company public in 2007, pocketing $1.8 billion from the IPO. That same year, he bought famed soccer club Newcastle United.

In 2021, Ashley sold Newcastle United to a consortium backed by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund for around $400 million.

He renamed Sports Direct's parent company Frasers Group in 2019, after acquiring department store chain House of Fraser.

Ashley handed the CEO reins of Frasers Group to his son-in-law, Michael Murray, and stepped down from the Frasers board of directors in 2022.

About

Ashley played squash growing up and reportedly dreamed of going pro, but his career was stopped short after an injury.