Mark Dixon | |
|---|---|
| Born | Mark Leslie James Dixon November 1959 (age 64) Essex, England |
| Education | Rainsford High School |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | Founder, Regus |
| Spouse |
Trudi Groves
(m. 1988; div. 2005) |
| Children | 5 |
Mark Leslie James Dixon (born 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]
Dixon was born in November 1959. 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.[2]
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.[2][3]
Returning to Essex, he invested £600 in a burger van, based on London's North Circular road.[2] From profits he then bought seven other vans, but found difficulty in obtaining good and regular bun supply.[2] 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.[3]
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.[4] By mid-2001 the business was worth £2 billion, with Dixon's 60 percent stake making him a billionaire.[3] 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.[3][5] Regus bought the stake back three years later.[6] Dixon has since rebuilt the business and expanded internationally. The company now has a presence in over 100 countries.[7] 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.[8] The vineyard produces around 5 million bottles of wine a year, making it the second-largest producer in Provence.[9] In 2017, Dixon bought the 150-acre Kingscote Estate in East Grinstead, West Sussex to expand production to the United Kingdom.[10]
According to The Sunday Times Rich List in 2021, his net worth was estimated at £1.437 billion.[11]
Dixon married journalist Trudy Groves in 1988; they divorced in 2005, with a £28.7m settlement.[3]
Dixon is a resident of Monaco for tax reasons.[3] He voluntarily pays tax in the United Kingdom.[12]