Sports Direct
After leaving school at 16, he was a county level squash player. But after injury, he became a county-level squash coach. 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.
Presently 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.
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