Sir Philip Green

Sir Philip Green's first job was helping his mother with the running of the family businesses following the death of his father when he was just twelve. Leaving school at sixteen, he began buying and selling clothes. At thirty-three he struck gold - selling the Jean Jeanie chain for £3 million, having paid just £65,000 a year before. The bid that subsequently propelled him into the major league was the 1999 joint venture with the billionaire Barclay Brothers to buy Sears. Today, with the BHS and Arcadia Group, he owns 2,300 shops in the UK and has assets of around £3.6 billion.