JOHN CAUDWELL is not a man to rest on his laurels. His mobile phone businesses have made him one of the richest self-made men in Britain, but he continues to wage war on his rivals with the launch of a £20 million high street price war today.
Mr Caudwell, who attributes his business success to being bullied at school for his ginger hair and freckles, started the business as Midland Mobile Phone with his brother, Brian, in 1987. By 1991 it had turnover of £13 million a year. The boom in mobiles took sales through the roof and by 2000 the business, by then called Phones4U, was taking more than £1 billion a year.
There have been rumours that Mr Caudwell will sell up, possibly to Vodafone, but he shows no sign of a slowing appetite for the City. Not even the distractions of self-made wealth — the 90-room Jacobean mansion, Bentley, yacht, helicopter and private jet — seem to deter him. He is supporting his latest business offensive with a £15 million advertising campaign in his attempt to snatch a bigger share of the market.