How Mike Ashley made his money as Sheffield Wednesday takeover talk lingers | OneFootball

The former Newcastle United owner has been linked with a takeover of the Owls

Sheffield Wednesday have been placed into administration, and the talk now is about who is going to take over the club, now that Dejphon Chansiri doesn't have a say in the asking price.

Former Newcastle United owner, Mike Ashley, has been mooted as a potential buyer for over a month now, and earlier this month, Alan Briggs reported that he was "monitoring developments".

Things have developed even further since that report. The club is now in administration, and Michael Vaughan of The Telegraph feels that he could be the man to take the club forward, too.

Ashley has been out of football for four years now. However, he is still one of the richest people in the UK currently due to his past dealings. Here's how the 61-year-old has become such a wealthy person.

How Mike Ashley made his money

According to the 2025 Sunday Times rich list, Mike Ashley is the 52nd richest person in the UK, with an estimated net worth of £3.12 billion.

The source of wealth on the list for Ashley is said to be "sports equipment and fashion", which all stemmed from the founding of Sports Direct in 1982.

After receiving a £10,000 loan from his family, aged just 18, Ashley opened his first sports shop. As that grew, it was rebranded from Mike Ashley Sports to Sports Soccer, then Sports World, and finally Sports Direct back in 2008.

He was the CEO of his company for 40 years — 36 of those being under the Sports Direct banner — before he bought the House of Fraser department store chain in 2018 and then changed the company name to Frasers Group.

In 2022, he stepped down from the board, months after handing the running of the group to his son-in-law, Michael Murray.

The company had earned billions in the decades under his ownership, and his net worth only increased when he purchased majority control of Newcastle United in 2007, which he owned for 14 years before he sold for another £300 million in 2021 to a Saudi consortium.

Despite being rather unpopular among the Magpies fans during his time at the club, coming under fire multiple times due to a lack of investment and overseeing two Premier League relegations, his wealth is there to be seen, and a return to football to take over Sheffield Wednesday would be an interesting proposition.

The administrators at Sheffield Wednesday are hopeful that the club could have new owners by the end of the year, after "four or five" serious bidders have emerged.

Whether any of them is Mike Ashley is yet to be revealed, but if he was monitoring things before the administration was announced, there's every indication that he may have his nose in amongst the talks.

For Wednesday fans, it's a waiting game now, but a rather exciting one, given that it seemed for ages that the battle they were fighting against Dejphon Chansiri was going to be a losing one.

Some may have their reservations due to Ashley's track record at Newcastle, but ultimately, any owner is better than no owner, and they'll welcome the news with open arms as and when it comes.