Charles Dunstone
Chief executive Carphone Warehouse
No longer retail’s most eligible bachelor following his engagement to popular retail PR Celia Gordon Shute in December, it has been a good year for the most successful retail entrepreneur of his generation.
By this time next year, Carphone Warehouse will have demerged. The Talk Talk fixed line business is set to become the biggest residential broadband provider in the UK with the acquisition of Tiscali (which was due to complete by the end of June), but the real excitement for the retail world is around the other half of the business, Best Buy Europe. Best Buy’s launch has been delayed but there’s little doubt it will shake up electricals retailing in the UK.
It hasn’t all has been plain sailing – Dunstone was let down by his friend and co-founder David Ross when he pledged his stake in the company against personal loans. But the controversy did nothing to harm Dunstone’s reputation, which remains higher than ever.
