| Britain's king of mobile phones puts his success down to being bullied at school for his ginger hair and freckles. "It helps that I had a tough childhood and was used to fighting," says Caudwell, 50, who was born in Stoke-on-Trent and now lives in a £10m Jacobean mansion in Staffordshire. His pre-eminence was confirmed late last year, when the former car salesman unveiled his 2001 results. Sales at Caudwell Holdings were up 33% to £1.4 billion and profits rose slightly to £22m. If much of Caudwell's £4m salary were added to the bottom line, the profit figure would be £25m. Last month he was reported to be planning to sell part of the business to Vodafone for up to £400m. With that in mind, we value the whole operation at £800m. We add £40m for other assets, including a yacht, helicopter and private plane.
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