Michael Ashley

$5.37B

as of 10/04/24

About Michael Ashley

Michael Ashley founded the U.K.'s largest sporting goods retailer, Sports Direct.

Ashley started Sports Direct in 1982 at age 18; it now has some 800 stores.

He took the company public in 2007, pocketing $1.8 billion from the IPO. That same year, he bought famed soccer club Newcastle United.

In 2021, Ashley sold Newcastle United to a consortium backed by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund for around $400 million.

He renamed Sports Direct's parent company Frasers Group in 2019, after acquiring department store chain House of Fraser.

Ashley handed the CEO reins of Frasers Group to his son-in-law, Michael Murray, and stepped down from the Frasers board of directors in 2022.

Personal stats

Citizenship

United Kingdom

Source of wealth

Sports retailing

Residence

Hertfordshire, United Kingdom

Marital status

Divorced

Birth date

09/12/64 (age 60)

Self-made

self-made

Michael Ashley’s fortune is worth

90K

troy ounces of gold

83K

median U.S. household

54K

median U.S. income

0.107%

U.S. credit card volume

0.021%

GDP of the United States

0.016%

United States debt

Net worth history

Annual ranking

Did you know?

Ashley played squash growing up and reportedly dreamed of going pro, but his career was stopped short after an injury.