Mark Dixon (businessman)

Mark Leslie James Dixon (born 2 November 1959) is a Monaco-based English billionaire businessman, best known as the founder of serviced office business Regus, renamed International Workplace group (IWG plc) in 2016.[1]

Mark Dixon
Born
Mark Leslie James Dixon

(1959-11-02) 2 November 1959 (age 64)
Essex, England
EducationRainsford High School
OccupationBusinessman
Known forFounder, Regus
Spouse
Trudi Groves
(m. 1988; div. 2005)
Children5

Early life

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Dixon was born on 2 November 1959.[2] The son of a car mechanic, he was educated at Rainsford High School, Essex, England. On noticing that a new housing estate needed nourishment for its gardens, he sold peat distributed by wheelbarrow.[3]

Career

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After leaving school at 16, Dixon founded a sandwich making business, Dial-a-Snack, which delivered locally on a butcher's bicycle. After the business failed, he travelled the world, becoming a barman in St Tropez, a miner in Australia, a farmhand in Asia; and selling encyclopedias.[3][4]

Returning to Essex, he invested £600 in a burger van, based on London's North Circular road.[3] From profits he then bought seven other vans, but found difficulty in obtaining good and regular bun supply.[3] He set up The Bread Roll Company to supply his own and other mobile fast food vendors, which he sold in 1988 for £800,000.[4]

Relocating to Brussels, Belgium, he set up an apartment rental business. While sitting in a café, he regularly noticed how local business people were conducting meetings around the small tables of local coffee shops. He started Regus, an office space business, in 1989.[5] By mid-2001 the business was worth £2 billion, with Dixon's 60 percent stake making him a billionaire.[4] However, after the failure of the dot.com boom, Dixon's stake fell and he was valued at less than £80m.

In 2002, 58% of the UK arm of the business was sold to UK private equity firm Alchemy Partners.[4][6] Regus bought the stake back three years later.[7] Dixon has since rebuilt the business and expanded internationally. The company now has a presence in over 100 countries.[8] Dixon remains the company's chief executive.[1]

Dixon owns the Chateau de Berne vineyard in Provence which includes a five-star hotel and restaurant.[9] The vineyard produces around 5 million bottles of wine a year, making it the second-largest producer in Provence.[10] In 2017, Dixon bought the 150-acre Kingscote Estate in East Grinstead, West Sussex to expand production to the United Kingdom.[11]

According to The Sunday Times Rich List in 2021, his net worth was estimated at £1.437 billion.[12]

Personal life

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Dixon married journalist Trudy Groves in 1988; they divorced in 2005, with a £28.7m settlement.[4]

Dixon is a resident of Monaco for tax reasons.[4] He voluntarily pays tax in the United Kingdom.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b Howard, Tom. "Serviced offices provider IWG considers three-way split". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  2. ^ a b Shah, Oliver (6 October 2019). "Interview: I won't be celebrating WeWork's woes, says IWG boss Mark Dixon". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d Cave, Andrew (17 July 2004). "Mark Dixon, CEO of Regus: A true entrepreneur back on the expansion trail". The Independent. London. Retrieved 25 April 2009.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Cave, Andrew (25 April 2009). "Mark Dixon: the Briton who wants to build a new Google". London: The Telegraph. Retrieved 25 April 2009.
  5. ^ "Regus > Office Space Rentals, Meeting Rooms, Training Rooms, Video conferencing, Network Access, Virtual Offices, Executive Suites". Archived from the original on 19 December 2008. Retrieved 26 April 2009.
  6. ^ Bowers, Simon (21 December 2002). "Regus sells off crown jewels to stay alive". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.
  7. ^ Venes, Robert (12 January 2013). "Alchemy sells back Regus UK holding".
  8. ^ "Rent Office Space and Virtual Offices in 900 cities worldwide | Regus Saudi Arabia". En.saudiarabia.regus.com. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  9. ^ "Visiting Chateau de Berne, Provence, and an interview with consultant Hubert de Bouard". wineanorak.com.
  10. ^ "South of England is 'new frontier' of wine, billionaire claims". 13 June 2017.
  11. ^ "Billionaire Mark Dixon opens 'new frontier' in English wine". Evening Standard. 12 June 2017.
  12. ^ "The Sunday Times Rich List 2021". www.thetimes.co.uk. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
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