Tycoon John Hargreaves, founder and chairman of Matalan (158)
MATALAN tycoon John Hargreaves has stepped down as chairman of the company he founded, it was reported yesterday.
The resignation of the Liverpool-born entrepreneur, 63, was said to be for personal reasons.
Hargreaves, a former Liverpool market trader, started the cut-price retail business in 1985. He took the business private for £817m less than a year ago.
It was reported he had installed long-term adviser John Mills as his successor.
With an estimated personal wealth of £550m, Hargreaves, the son of a Liverpool dock labourer, has homes in Barbados and the tax haven Monaco, where he is a resident.
He flies into Matalan’s Lancashire head office in Skelmersdale in his Dassault Falcon jet.
Matalan chief execut- ive Alistair McGeorge said: “I still speak to John regularly. His decision to go is for personal reasons.”
Hargreaves founded Matalan after noticing the rise of out-of-town warehouse clubs in America.
After its flotation in 1998, Matalan initially went from strength to strength but it lost favour as budget chains like Primark moved in.
After several years of under-performance, Hargreaves bought out minority shareholders in 2006 in a takeover backed by Icelandic bank Kaupthing.
