Featured Image Credit: Alamy
Topics: Celebrity Net Worth, Deborah Meaden
Joe Lynch
Deborah Meaden is a hugely successful British businesswoman and has been a ‘Dragon’ on the BBC's hit TV show Dragon's Den since 2006. Meaden has had a taste for business since a young age and started her first company, a glass and ceramics export agency, in Italy aged 19.
Whilst her glass and ceramics firm ultimately ended in failure, Meaden found success after joining Weststar holidays, a holiday park operator in Exeter, and organising a management buyout in 1999 which gave her the majority shareholding.
When Weststar was sold to Alchemy Partners in 2007 her stake was valued at £19 million.
Meaden, a vocal critic of Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party, is not afraid to broadcast her views on Twitter. In January 2022 she accused Johnson of having tainted the office of Prime Minister with ‘the stench of sleaze, mistrust and alleged blackmail’.
Advert
Meaden has invested in 34 businesses on Dragons’ Den since she jouned. One of her most notable investments was in a company named Billy + Margot, which produces ice cream for dogs. Meaden invested £60,000 in Billy + Margot, acquiring a 40% stake in the company.
Another notable Meaden investment is the £60,000 she put into a company named Toddle Born Wild, which provides vegan skincare for children and babies. Meaden owns 13% of the company.
Deborah Meaden’s net worth is £40 million, according to The Sun. This places her as the fourth wealthiest of the current Dragons. Peter Jones’ net worth of £1 billion is more than the four remaining Dragons combined.
Since becoming a Dragon Meaden has continued her business ventures away from the show. In 2009, she acquired a textile mill in the West Country and in October 2011 Meaden launched an online luxury goods company named ‘The Merchant Fox’.
Advert
It’s not been all business for Meaden, in 2013 she took part in the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing but unfortunately, after performing a Viennese Waltz in the fifth round, she was eliminated. An admirable performance but it’s probably fair to say that Dragons’ Den is the BBC show that has given her far more success.