Chris Dawson (businessman)
British businessman, founder and CEO of The Range
Christopher Frederick Dawson (born 15 February 1952) is a British billionaire businessman best known as the founder and executive chairman of CDS Superstores (trading as The Range and Wilko).
CDS acquired the intellectual property of Wilko in September 2023, and later acquired 49 Homebase stores, alongside its intellectual property, in November 2024.
The ultimate owner is Dawson's wife, who registers as a resident in Jersey, a place that offers tax savings over UK resident individuals.
Early life
Dawson was born in Plymouth, Devon, the son of a market trader. He grew up in Hooe. He attended Hooe Primary School and then Plymstock School. Dawson attended school irregularly, struggled with dyslexia, and left at 15 years old with few qualifications. He has since returned to Hooe Primary School to discuss business studies with students.
Career
Dawson started as a market trader in Plymouth. He sold seafood from the back of a van with his father, and later started his own venture selling perfume and jewellery from a suitcase.
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This entry incorporates text from “Chris Dawson (businessman)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.