Is this the UK’s stingiest billionaire? One of Britain’s richest males reveals why he ONLY travels on easyJet and points warning to his youngsters over what is going on to occur his staggering fortune when he dies
One of the UK’s wealthiest businessmen has revealed why he still flies with budget airline easyJet while serving a warning to his children over his £2.6billion fortune.
Phones 4u founder John Caudwell, 72, has opened up about his personal thriftiness despite his vast resources including three mansions – in London, Staffordshire and Monaco.
Mr Caudwell was placed in 109th place in last year’s Sunday Times Rich List rankings of Britain’s wealthiest people, up eight places on 2023.
But he still feels the instinct to fly as cheaply as possible when travelling overseas, he revealed today in an interview on ITV‘s Good Morning Britain.
And the Birmingham-born, Staffordshire-based entrepreneur also publicly cautioned his seven children, from three different relationships, on what to expect from his wealth when he dies.
Mr Caudwell was a past donor to the Conservative Party before switching his support to Sir Keir Starmer‘s Labour ahead of last July’s general election.
Caudwell has previously told of how he still shaves his own head and beard with a pair of clippers, rarely spends more than £30 on a bottle of wine and would far rather cycle than take a taxi.
He does also own three homes, a yacht, a helicopter and a fleet of luxury cars.
British billionaire John Caudwell has revealed how he is a fan of budget airline easyJet
The Phones 4u founder has shared photos online of his journeys with the airline
He is pictured here with his partner Modesta Vžesniauskaitė and their son William at the charity Butterfly Ball event in Leicester Square, central London, in July 2022
Mr Caudwell set up Midlands Mobile Sales in 1987, becoming Phones 4U in 1996, before selling the enterprise to two private equity firms in 2006, pocketing £1.46billion.
He was married to Kate McFarlane for 25 years before their divorce in 2001, having three children together.
He later had a daughter with violinist Jane Burgess and a son with former model Claire Johnson before their 15-year relationship ended in 2014.
His current partner is Lithuanian-born former Olympic cyclist Modesta Vžesniauskaitė, who gave birth to their son William in March 2021 and daughter Isabella in March 2023.
Yet he has publicly revealed that 70 per cent of his wealth will be left to charity when he dies – urging his offspring to ‘make their own money’.
He also described how easyJet airline staff are surprised to see him taking the budget option when flying.
Mr Caudwell prompted laughter from GMB presenters Richard Madeley and Charlotte Hawkins when he said: ‘In some ways I live a very privileged and luxurious life – in other ways I’m quite frugal, as people on easyJet will tell you when they say, “I never thought I’d see you on easyJet”.
‘I’m there all the time – taking a £50 or £100 flight.
The businessman shared this picture alongside his partner Modesta Vžesniauskaitė on an easyJet flight
John Caudwell provoked laughter from GMV hosts Richard Madeley and Charlotte Hawkins
John Caudwell, who grew up in Stoke-on-Trent, is pictured outside his Staffordshire home
‘I’m a bit of a dichotomy, really, of wealth and frugalism – I’m a mixed bag but I’ve still got my feet very much on the ground and my big interest is helping make the world a better place in whatever way I can.’
In a separate interview with Sky News, he spoke more about where his inheritance will head – suggesting his children were accustomed to his intentions.
When asked how they felt about him leaving 70 per cent of his fortune to charity, Mr Caudwell said: ‘Oh, they’re perfectly happy because I told them from an early age that it was all going to the cats home, that they were going to have to work for their living.
‘That’s my philosophy, you know – all my children, I want them to be happy, successful, if that’s what they want.
‘Leave the world a better place, but make their own money and have their own satisfaction.’
When asked whether other billionaires were being ‘selfish with their wealth’, Caudwell replied: ‘Well, a lot are, yes.’
Mr Caudwell has shared on social media in the past his favouring of easyJet, including how during lockdown in 2020 their planes felt ‘a bit like a private jet, considering how few passengers there were as Covid hit Europe’.
He also posted on X, formerly Twitter, in October 2023: ‘We like low-budget and usually fly @easyJet!’
John Caudwell and his daughter Libby are seen here at the Together for Short Lives Winter Ball in November 2019
John Caudwell was quizzed about his plans to leave 70 per cent of his wealth to charity on Sky News – and asked how his children felt about such intentions
Mr Caudwell was one of the biggest donors to the Tories ahead of the 2019 general election, when he gave £500,000 to Boris Johnson’s campaign.
But he announced last June he would be voting Labour and encouraged others to do the same – declaring he was ‘amazed by how Keir Starmer has transformed the Labour Party and brought it back from that Corbyn brink’.
He said he had supported the Conservatives for 51 years but had been ‘despairing’ about their performance for many years – however, he did add that he held reservations over Labour’s plans to impose VAT on private school fees.
He said: ‘I don’t think putting VAT on school fees is the right thing to do. We will have more kids going into the state system.
‘If too many kids leave the private school system not only have you got greater cost on the public sector. It almost seems like a negative action against a meritocracy.’
He said he was concerned that it could hit private schools in less wealthy areas, adding ‘I’m not convinced that this is a positive policy.’
Mr Caudwell grew up in Stoke-on-Trent as the son of an engineering products salesman and a mother who worked in a post room to make ends meet.
Caudwell abandoned his A-levels to become an apprentice at Michelin, and worked for several years there as an engineering foreman while gaining a HNC in mechanical engineering.
John Caudwell’s homes include a £250million mansion in Mayfair, central London, which featured in a 2020 Channel 4 documentary called Britain’s Most Expensive Home
John Caudwell is pictured here with partner Modesta Vzesniauskaite and son William at the 21st Annual Caudwell Children Butterfly Ball at north London’s Roundhouse in November 2021
While working at Michelin he also ran a corner shop and started a mail order business selling clothing to motorcyclists.
In 1987 Caudwell registered Midland Mobile Phones as a mobile phone wholesaler, initially taking 26 Motorola mobiles at £1,350 each.
It took eight months to sell these 26 phones to local plumbers, taxi drivers and television repairmen at a price of £2,500 each.
The company made a loss every month for the first two years of operations.
But then the business became the Caudwell Group, which included an independent mobile phone network service provider called Singlepoint and high street mobile shop Phones4U which he sold for £1.5billion in 2006.
