Bill Adderley

William Adderley (born February 1948) is a British billionaire businessman, founder of the FTSE 250-listed Dunelm Group home furnishings retailer.

Bill Adderley
Born
William Adderley

February 1948 (age 72)
Leeds, Yorkshire, England
NationalityBritish
Net worth £1.47 billion (Sunday Times Rich List, 2020)
Spouse(s)Jean Adderley

Early life

William Adderley (known as Bill) was born on a Council Estate in February 1948[1] in Leeds, Yorkshire.[2] He is a devout Roman Catholic. Adderley left school at 16, with a basic education level. He was a boyhood fan of Leeds United

Career

Adderley was a manager at a Woolworths store[3] in Coalville, but left in 1979 after the company wanted him to relocate to its Skegness store.[2]

In 1979, while looking for a new job, Adderley and his wife Jeany sold curtains, which had been rejected by Marks and Spencer from a stall in Leicester market. In 1984, they opened their first home furnishings store, calling it Dunelm.[4][2] He retired from Dunelm at the age of 50 and left the growth of the company in the capable hands of his son William and, at this time, the company floated in 2006.

In October 2013, The Guardian commented that Adderley had become the largest private shareholder in Marks & Spencer, having built a stake valued at £250 million.[3]

According to the Sunday Times Rich List in 2020 his net worth was estimated at £1.47 billion, an increase of £49 million from 2019.[5]

Adderley has sold most of his stake in Marks & Spencer and has bought a stake in Morrisons.[6][7]

Currently, Dunelm operates in 140 stores across the UK and runs an ecommerce business.[8] The Adderley family stil owns approximately 55% of the shares.[9]

Personal life

He is married to Jeany[4] and has two sons (a daughter died in infancy) and four grandchildren. As well as playing golf in South Africa, Ireland and Spain, he is a member of Luffenham Heath Golf Club and swears by the golf club brand Turin.[2] Apart from golf, he has a penchant for luxury; Bentley Continental Cars, high end properties, mid- to late-20th century art, Victorian antiques and Murano Glass, which he gifts. His son, William Lester Adderley, was a director of Dunelm Group and has recently become involved with a Financial Investment Company.[1] His other son, Jonathan, was not involved in Dunelm, due to only one sibling being able to lead the company.

They live near Wittering, Lincolnshire at Thornhaugh and have homes in Ireland, Spain and Central London.

Political donations

Adderley donated £500,000 to the Conservative Party through his company WA Capital Limited during the 2019 United Kingdom general election.[10][11] Adderley is also a Brexit supporter and donated to the Brexit campaign[12]

References
  1. "Dunelm Group plc". Companies House. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  2. Griffin, I (12 May 2014). "Dunelm's founding family sees wealth soar by £100m". Leicester Mercury. Archived from the original on 31 December 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  3. Goodley, Simon (31 October 2013). "Bill Adderley unmasked as Marks & Spencer's biggest private shareholder". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  4. "Bill Adderley". Forbes. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  5. Times, The Sunday. "Rich List 2020: profiles 51-100, featuring Bernie Ecclestone". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  6. Jefford, Kasmira (1 June 2015). "Dunelm founder sells majority of stake in M&S". cityam.com. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  7. "Homeware stores tycoon 'takes stake in Morrisons'". www.yorkshirepost.co.uk. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  8. "Bill Adderley & family". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-10-11.
  9. "Bill Adderley & family". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
  10. "View donation". The Electoral Commission. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  11. Bloom, Dan; Sommerlad, Nick; Smith, Mikey (23 November 2019). "Faces of the super-rich Tory donors helping pump £800k a day into the election". Mirror Online. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  12. "The 21 biggest donors to the Brexit campaign".
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