City profile

Mike Ashley The former squash coachturned-billionaire Sports Direct retailer “is a caricature of the self-made tycoon”, said Iain Dey in The Sunday Times: “brash, rich and unashamedly unconventional”. And a High Court case has provided more proof of Mike Ashley’s unorthodox approach to business. The case has been brought by a former Merrill Lynch banker, Jeffrey Blue, who claims he is owed £14m by Ashley. Testifying this week, Blue described Ashley’s habit of presiding over management meetings that were “effectively” pub lock-ins, said the FT. Once, he allegedly held a drinking competition with a Polish analyst. After some 12 pints of lager and vodka chasers, the analyst “apologised profusely and had to excuse himself”, according to Blue. “Mr Ashley then vomited into the fireplace, to huge applause from his management team.” This sort of behaviour would be “incomprehensible” to supporters of Ashley’s football club, Newcastle United, said Robert Lea in The Times. “What is the pavement for?” But then, Ashley loves to shock. According to Blue, when he wanted to express boredom in business meetings, he would lie down under the table and take a nap. The meat of Blue’s case is that, during a drinking session in a Fitzrovia pub in 2013, Ashley promised him a £15m bonus if he doubled Sports Direct’s share price to £8. It hit that price in 2014, but Blue got only a £1m bonus. Ashley’s QC accuses Blue of an “opportunistic try-on”, insisting that no bonus deal was struck and that it was merely drunken “banter”. The case continues.