John Caudwell was the founder of the now defunct mobile phone retailer Phones 4u. He sold his stakes in 2006 and 2011, making him a billionaire with a net worth of $2.9 billion. He is the owner of the superyacht TITANIA.
| NAME | John Caudwell |
| NET WORTH | $2.8 billion |
| SOURCE OF WEALTH | Phones 4u |
| BORN | 1952 |
| COUNTRY | United Kingdom |
| YACHT | TITIANA |
John Caudwell NET WORTH
Caudwell was ranked #986 on the Forbes 2021 list of the world’s billionaires. He has a net worth of $2.9 billion. Caudwell is the owner of the Lurssen yacht, TITANIA.
BUSINESS
Cauldwell chose not to complete his A-Levels and instead became an apprentice at Michelin, where he worked for several years to gain an HNC in mechanical engineering.
During this time, he also ran a corner shop and started a mail order business where he sold clothing to motorcyclists.
Caudwell, who came from a working-class family, began selling mobile phones with his brother in 1987. He registered the Midlands Mobile Phones as a mobile phone wholesaler.
The brothers started with just 26 Motorola phones, costing £1,350 each. They took eight months to sell their initial product to local plumbers, taxi drivers, and television repairmen for £2000. The company operated at a loss for the first two years.
The brothers later founded Singlepoint six years after they began the venture. Vodafone acquired the mobile phone provider in 2003 for $650 million.
Caudwell used his share of the money to invest in Phones 4u, quickly becoming the UK’s largest mobile retailer. He sold his stake three years later to Providence Equity Partners for $2.8 billion. He sold the remaining 25% for $272 million in 2011.
He is one of the first Brits to sign The Giving Pledge. Other billionaires like Paul Allen, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffet have signed the pledge, agreeing to give away the vast majority of their wealth before they die.
PERSONAL LIFE
Caldwell was married to Kate McFarlane. The couple had three children together. They divorced after 25 years of marriage in 2001.
After a brief relationship, he had a daughter with violinist Jane Burgess, Scarlet. He had a long-term relationship with former model Claire Johnson for 15 years.
The couple shares a son, Jacobi, and separated in 2014. He is currently in a relationship with Lithuanian cyclist Modesta Vžesniauskaite. Their son, William, was born in March 2021.
In 2011, Caudwell announced that he and several of his family members had been diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease. He pledged to donate 1 million pounds to help fund Lyme disease research in 2018, with the condition that the NHS would match his investment.
PHILANTHROPY
Cauldwell is the chair of Caudwell Children, a children’s charity, and Caudwell LymeCo, which promotes chronic Lyme disease beliefs.
Caudwell is involved in many philanthropic pursuits, including contributing to the Prince’s Regeneration Trust, Marie Curie, the Elton AIDS Foundation, Ark, Great Ormond Street Hospital, and the Carers Trust.
Caudwell is an avid adventurer and cyclist and often undertakes 1000-mile charity bike rides to raise funds for numerous children’s charities.
He fundraised more than £58,021 for Caudwell Children in 2021 when he undertook a fundraising bike ride from Land’s End to John o’ Groats.
He was president with the Noble Gift Philanthroprenuer Award by Eva Longoria in 2012 for his dedication to charity work.
He is a major supporter of the NSPCC and later became the regional representative of the Full Stop campaign. He was appointed the president of the North Staffordshire branch of the NSPCC in 1999.
