An era is ending at the British trading group Frasers Group Plc: On Tuesday, the company announced that the founder and majority owner Mike Ashley will give up his seat on the board of directors at the end of the general meeting on October 19. The 58-year-old multi-billionaire resigned as CEO in May, and his son-in-law Michael Murray has been in charge of the group’s fortunes ever since.
Even after his departure from the board of directors, Ashley will continue to support the group’s management “upon request” in an advisory capacity, the retailer said. As a sign of his “continued strong support” for the company and the current strategy, he has also pledged to provide the group with an additional loan of 100 million British pounds (114 million euros).
Ashley justified his departure from management with the retailer’s continued positive development. “Since Michael Murray took over as President of the Frasers Group earlier this year, the company has enjoyed success after success. It is evident that the group has the right leadership and strategy and it is with great confidence that I pass the baton to Michael and his team,” he said in a statement.
Ashley has been a source of controversy in the UK for controversial business practices and as a longtime owner of Newcastle United football club, which he sold to a Saudi-led consortium for £300m last year. Economically, however, he wrote a success story. Starting with the establishment of his first own shop in 1982, he built up the Sports Direct retail chain, which went public in 2007.
With an offensive takeover strategy, Ashley then expanded the business areas of the group, which was renamed Frasers Group after the purchase of the insolvent department store chain House of Fraser at the end of 2019. Further acquisitions followed, most recently the group of companies acquired the fast fashion brands Missguided and I Saw It First.