In 2015, business magnate Alan Sugar joined the elite club of British billionaires when his net worth surpassed £1 billion ($1.56 billion) for the first time. Origins of his stellar wealth could be traced back to his first company Amstrad that he founded in 1968. It made it’s initial public offering of stocks on London Stock Exchange in 1980.
How Did Alan Sugar Get So Rich?
Alan was born 24 March 1947 in East London into a Jewish family that certainly wasn’t poor but Alan managed to surpass financially his family background immensely. His company Amstrad focused on consumer electronics such as computers. 1980’s were extremely successful decade for Amstrad as it doubled it’s profits every year. So rose the market value. It’s stock market value peaked on £1.2 billion but nineties were it the sign of consolidation and tough competition in this segment. They decided to focus more on gaming computers but were defeated by Japanese gaming consoles on this market.
In 2007, Sugar sold Amstrad to BSkyB for £125 million. During his life, Sugar owned football club Tottenham Hotspur and several businesses, such as Amsair, Viglen Ltd, Amscreen etc. Alan managed to amass an incredible net worth from his business ventures. But lately he’s more famous as a television celebrity.
Since 2005, Alan Sugar appears as a main cast on British version of reality television show The Apprentice (American original employs Donald Trump on the same position). He’s a perfect fit since his career faced similar controversies as Trump’s. Sugar’s managing style is often criticized by his opponents as too rough and humiliating. Which proved to be a good base for this type of show.
