Theodoros “Theo” Paphitis (Greek: Θεόδωρος Παφίτης; born 24 September 1959) is a Greek-Cypriot British retail magnate and entrepreneur. He is best known for his appearances on the BBC business programme Dragons’ Den and as former chairman of Millwall Football Club.
Paphitis has made the majority of his fortune in the retail sector. In 2006, he sold his equity stake in the lingerie brand La Senza for a reported £100 million. He is the owner of stationery chain Ryman, the homewares specialist Robert Dyas and lingerie retailer Boux Avenue.
According to The Sunday Times Rich List in 2020, Paphitis is worth £290 million.
In May 2018, Solent University in Southampton named Paphitis as their new Chancellor. Paphitis was inaugurated as the university’s Chancellor on 11 October 2018. He will serve a minimum of three years. Paphitis succeeded Lord West of Spithead.
What is Theo Paphitis’s Net Worth?
Theo Paphitis is a retail magnate and entrepreneur who has a net worth of $300 million. Theo Paphitis made his fortune running such retail companies as Ryman, La Senza UK, Robert Dyas, and Boux Avenue. He also served as the chairman of the EFL Championship’s Millwall Football Club, and as the chancellor of Solent University in Southampton, England. Paphitis is well known to British television viewers for appearing as an investor on the reality business series “Dragons’ Den” from 2005 to 2012.
Net Worth: $300 Million
Profession:
Early Life and Education
Theo Paphitis was born on September 24, 1959 in Limassol, Cyprus. He has an older brother named Marinos and a younger brother named George, as well as two half-brothers. When Paphitis was young, he moved with his family to Manchester, England. There, he went to Peacock Street junior school. At the age of nine, Paphitis moved with his family to London, where he attended Ambler Primary School and Woodberry Down Comprehensive School. Struggling with dyslexia, he turned his focus to entrepreneurial endeavors and began running his school’s tuck shop.
Career Beginnings
One of Paphitis’s first jobs was as a tea boy and filing clerk at a London insurance broker. Dissatisfied with the pay, he became a sales assistant for Watches of Switzerland when he was 18, finding his passion for retail in the process. When he was 21, Paphitis began selling commercial mortgages for the financial services company Legal & General. A couple years after that, he established a property finance company with his friend Mark Moran.
