Simon Jordan
| Simon Jordan | |
|---|---|
| Born |
24 September 1967 Thornton Heath, Surrey |
| Nationality | English |
| Occupation | Crystal Palace F.C. chairman (2000–2010), Chairman of The Club bar and Dining Group 2006-2010, founder Aspiration films, Chairman Octane Media 2004-6, Managing Director of The PocketPhone Shop 1994-2000 |
| Children | 1 daughter |
Simon Jordan (born 24 September 1967) is an English businessman who made his fortune in the mobile phone industry. In 2000, he purchased Crystal Palace Football Club and remained chairman of the club until they entered administration in early 2010 . In 2002, he co founded and funded the car Magazine Octane, selling his 50% shareholding in 2006. In 2006, he opened the restaurant Club Bar and Dining in London's Warwick Street, Jordan sold it to the Ottenlenghi Group in 2010 who renamed the restaurant Nopi.
At 16, Jordan joined Palace and then Chelsea on schoolboy forms, but his career never took off, and Chelsea released him when he was sixteen. He has described himself as being "good enough to be a professional, but mentally I wasn't interested. You often get players who have bags of talent, but not the required application. I was one of them.". All this happened whilst he was at Purley High School for Boys in Old Coulsdon. His father Peter Jordan used to play for Crystal Palace F.C., although never appeared for the first team.
In the late 1980s or early 1990s he was invited by a friend, James Wright, to join him in his business, Wright Connections, selling mobile phones via adverts placed in Loot and Exchange and Mart. Jordan and Wright rented an office from Delta 5, another mobile phone dealer, and the business lasted for a short time before changing its name to Corporate Cellular Ltd (CCL). This business was not considered to be a great success either and Jordan left in the early 1990s.
In 1994, Jordan and Andrew Briggs set up their own mobile phone retail company called the Pocket Phone Shop. They started with £30,000 and a 3,500 sq ft (330 m2) unit in Slough, and after forming an agreement with service provider Astec, the business flourished.
By 2000 the Pocket Phone Shop had 208 outlets nationwide, employed 1100 staff and was forecasting a turnover of £102m for the 1999/00 financial year. Pocket Phone Shop was seen as one of the main rivals in its sector to leader The Carphone Warehouse – the organisation that Jordan and Briggs both worked for before launching their own venture.
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