| In February Madejski, 62, purchased a sculpture by Edgar Degas, La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans, at Sotheby's. With the buyer's premium included, the bronze figurine set him back more than £5m but he considers it a bargain. "The bidding started at £3.2m and went up to £4.2m very quickly," he says. "I stuck my hand up and immediately there was a wall of silence. All I could hear was the gavel coming down. I felt there had been some sort of a mistake as I was expecting it to go for more than £7m." Madejski promptly loaned it to the Royal Academy for display in the Fine Rooms at Burlington House, restored to their 18th-century glory after a £3m donation from the tycoon. Art is one of Madejski's passions; another is cars - he keeps a Ferrari in a glass case at his home. Visit Reading and his influence is inescapable. He is chairman of Reading football club and has spent £40m on the First Division side's Madejski stadium. His name is also attached to a hotel, an art gallery and a lecture theatre in the town. Madejski launched Auto Trader magazine in 1977 and its formula of featuring pictures of the cars for sale proved highly successful. In 1998, he netted £174m from the sale of its parent company, Hurst Publishing. Madejski now has business interests around the world from a hotel in the Galapagos Islands to a bottling plant in China and is easily worth £305m.
|
129=
|
|
2003: £260m
|
|
