Peter Jones (entrepreneur)

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Peter Jones

For other uses, see Peter Jones (disambiguation).

Peter Jones (Born 18 March 1966) is an English businessman with interests in mobile telecommunications, media, leisure and property. The Sunday Times Rich List 2005 estimates he is worth at least £180 million.

1 Life and career
2 Trivia
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Life and career

Peter Jones is best known in the UK for his appearance on BBC Two's Dragons' Den. [1] In 2006, he secured a major deal with the UK broadcaster ITV, to appear as their new "face" of business programming. In the US, Jones featured as a judge in ABC's American Inventor.

Jones' business success began when he started his own tennis academy at the age of just 16. He went on to create a computer support business. He also owned a bar and restaurant, which through inexperience, he failed to make work. As the founder of Phones International Group, Jones now heads one of the most successful privately owned companies in the UK. He founded the company in April 1998 and has watched it experience rapid growth, with projected revenues expected to exceed $500 million in 2006.

In the summer of 2005, Jones teamed up with another Dragons' Den star, Theo Paphitis, to buy the gift experience company Red Letter Days from fellow panellist Rachel Elnaugh. The company, which was on the verge of collapse, has been turned around and is now trading profitably again. Through his appearance on the programme, Jones has invested in several start-up ventures including style magazine Wonderland and Square Mile International, which provides data services for marinas. Jones launched a TV production company in 2006. His business portfolio also includes a range of property investments.

To some derision from his critics, he has self-styled himself as an "ultrapreneur" which he defines as "a radical spirit whose restless pursuit of innovative business excellence is unbounded; recognised as a super-heroic leader of hearts and minds". Jones has since said the term is tongue-in-cheek although he is "absolutely committed to, and believes in what it stands for."

Jones set up a charity called Forgotten Children to provide funding for organisations looking after children who have slipped through the normal system of care.

In September 21st he appeared on GMTV to talk about his new show and Dragons' Den.

[edit] Trivia

Jones stands at 6ft-7in tall^[1]

He lives in Beaconsfield, Bucks, with partner of ten years, Tara Capp. They have three children together.

Peter also has two other children ,Annabel and William from a previous marriage to his childhood sweetheart, Caroline. Whom he married at 22, and left in his twenties. He says on leaving his Children “It was the hardest thing in my life. Forget setting up a company and running a multimillion-pound empire: the hardest thing was leaving my children.”