Man who grew up on council estate worth £1.5bn won't let kids inherit fortune
In 1987, John Caudwell started up a mobile phone wholesale business. And in 2006, he sold it for a whopping £1.46 billion.
Raised on a council estate in Stoke-on-Trent, his business was Caudwell Group with its flagship company being Phones4U.
Nowadays, the 74-year-old says he is worth £1.5 billion but according to Forbes the figure is a hell of a lot higher than that at a whopping net worth £4.2 billion.
But speaking to LADbible Stories for Honesty Box, Caudwell says his eight childen (ranging from toddler to late 40s) won’t inherit all of his fortune.
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The self-made billionaire owns a £250 million mansion in Mayfair, London, (among other properties) but also ‘always flys’ EasyJet, wears ZARA and M&S clothes and has founded several charities such as Caudwell Children and Caudwell LymeCo.
One of the Honesty Box questions asked Caudwell: “Will your kids inherit all your money?”
And he simply answered: “Well, clearly not because I'm leaving at least 70% to charity. I always told them if I made money, it would never come to them.
“It would go to the cats' homes. Well, it's not going to the cats' homes, but it is going for charitable purposes.”
Caudwell went on to explain that when he sold his business for nearly £1.5 billion, it was a glorious day and ‘a great measure of my success’ but also a ‘bit of a headache’.
“What am I going to do with 1.5 billion? What am I going to do?” he continued.
“And, you know, the day... it was about six months later, I decided I was going to put it in my will to leave at least 50 per cent to charity. That was a huge relief.”
Caudwell has founded Caudwell Children, Caudwell Youth and Caudwell LymeCo. And has also supported a variety of other causes such as the Bomber Command Memorial, the Elton John Aids Foundation and the King’s Trust.
After putting the 50 per cent to charity, he said the remaining 50 was ‘too much’ to leave to his children.
“Because I believe in my children finding their own way, finding their own success,” Caudwell explained. “I absolutely disagree with trust fund babies.
“It's not a good thing to do for your children. You've got to leave them having a chance of their own success, their own rewards and their own satisfaction.
“So... yeah, I evolved more and more on not leaving money to children, or not leaving excessive money.”
Jess Battison