Mike Ashley

Michael James Wallace "Mike " Ashley (born 1963, Burnham, Buckinghamshire) is an English millionaire retail entrepreneur in the sporting goods market. He is also the owner of Newcastle United after paying around £135 million to buy the club.

Ranked 60th in the 2009 version of the Sunday Times Rich List with estimated wealth of £700 million, Ashley was seen as an intensely private person, who never attended industry functions or gave interviews. Philip Beresford, who compiles the annual Sunday Times list, said neither he nor his staff have ever managed to contact Ashley, and describes him as "easily Britain's answer to the late Howard Hughes."

However, since Sports Direct International Plc went public, and his purchase of Newcastle United where he took to sitting in the stands with fans, Ashley has taken on a more public and accessible persona. However since the departure of Kevin Keegan as manager and the club's relegation, Ashley has only made low key appearances when attending Newcastle matches.

Ashley grew up in Burnham, Buckinghamshire, where his parents still live in a modest bungalow. He was educated at Burnham Grammar School. He has 3 children Matilda, Anna and Oliver. He was divorced in 2003 from his then wife Linda, a Swedish-born economics graduate, for a reported settlement of £50 million. He is a former county squash coach.

After leaving school at 16, in the 1980s Ashley opened his first Sport and Ski shop in Maidenhead followed by others in and around London. The chain expanded quickly funded by private money, and by the late 1990s had rebranded the chain Sports Soccer and opened over 100 stores across the United Kingdom. As a sole trader and not having to file accounts at Companies House, little was known about him. The business became a limited liability company in 1999.

Nottinghamshire based group Sports Direct International Plc, with headquarters in Shirebrook, Mansfield has over 400 UK stores including the chains Sports World, Lillywhites (acquired in 2002) and Gilesports. The group employs more than 20,000 people in the UK and at stores in Ireland, Belgium and Slovenia. In 2006 it overtook JJB Sports as the UK's largest sports wear retailer. In mid-2006 it was also revealed that Ashley had held talks with John Hargreaves, founder of Matalan on both taking a 25% stake in the retail business and installing mezzanine floors in larger Matalan stores, on which Sports World outlets could be operated.

Ashley has made his money by buying brands. The first major brand he bought was Donnay. In February 2003 Ashley bought the Dunlop Slazenger brand for £40 million, followed up by acquiring outdoor gear manufacturer Karrimor in March 2003, Kangol for £10 million, boxing brand Lonsdale, most of these brands were bought from distressed sellers. After considering a takeover, Ashley took a £9 million stake and signed a long-term deal with Umbro.

Ashley has a 29.4% stake in Blacks Leisure Group, the owner of Millets and Mambo, and is thought to hold stakes in JJB Sports and 19% of JD Sports. "He likes to park his tanks on peoples' lawns", said one banker.

In late November 2006, a number of business newspapers reported that Ashley was looking at an IPO of Sports World International. He hired Merrill Lynch, who initially valued the group at up to £2.5bn ahead of the flotation on the London Stock Exchange.

On 31 January 2010, the BBC North East and Cumbria produced a 30min documentary detailing Mike Ashley's business successes and lows. Journalist Chris Jackson travelled to Thailand to visit the factory's in which Ashley's material for his brand of Lonsdale is made. Neither Ashley or his representatives showed interest in taking part in the film, declaring that the film was producing a majority of inaccuracies. They did however state that they would be reviewing the film closely. No further comment has been made.