'I'm fired'... Sir Alan Sugar steps down as Amstrad chairman

11 April 2012
The Weekender

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Sir Alan Sugar has 'fired' himself as chairman of Amstrad

He has become famous for harshly dismissing contestants on BBC1's The Apprentice.

But last night Sir Alan Sugar was directing his famous catchphrase 'You're Fired!' at himself.

The 61-year-old entrepreneur announced he was stepping down as chairman of Amstrad, the computer company he started when he was 21.

He said it was a planned move following the company's acquisition by Sky and that he will continue to be involved with his other business interests.

The millionaire will also be starring in the fifth series of The Apprentice, due to be aired next year.

Given that he is no longer in charge of Amstrad, it is unclear exactly what role the contestants will be competing for.

Sir Alan Sugar said: "This is a move that has been planned for a while and it's the right time for me to step down from my role at Amstrad.

"The past 40 years have seen Amstrad grow from a start-up business to the success story that it is today, which is a credit to the talented and loyal team here."

Sir Alan came from a humble background and, as the son of an East End tailor, entrepreneurship was in his blood.

He left school at 16 and founded Amstrad in 1968, choosing the word because it was an abbreviated form of Alan Michael Sugar Trading.

The company was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1980 and doubled its profits each year.

In 1984, Amstrad started selling its first home computer and initially did well against rivals Commodore and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum.

At its peak, Amstrad was worth £1.2billion but the company failed to keep up with the PC revolution and subsequently struggled.

Now Sir Alan has a net worth of £830million and was ranked 92nd in the 2008 Sunday Times Rich List (down from 84th in 2007).

Most of his wealth comes from his property portfolio.

Sir Alan also chaired Tottenham Hotspur FC from 1991 to 2001 after a takeover battle with Robert Maxwell, and was knighted in 2000 for his services to business.

But he is best known as the straight-talking boss of The Apprentice, where contestants compete for a job with him.

The deal with BSkyB was brokered in July 2007 and was worth £125million, earning Sir Alan a £34.5million windfall.

He will still have a hand in Amshold, Amsprop, Amsair and Viglen computers.

Amstrad managing director Alun Webber took over the day-to-day running of the company last year.

Sir Alan said: "Alun has worked closely with Amstrad over a number of years and is the right person to build on the success that we have seen to date. I step back knowing that the company's future is in good hands."

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