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Carphone Warehouse

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For Carphone Warehouse in Ireland, see Dixons Carphone § United Kingdom and Ireland.

The Carphone Warehouse Ltd
Founded1989; 35 years ago (1989)
FounderCharles Dunstone and Julian Brownlie
Defunct2020 (stores)
2021 (concessions)
FateTrades only online
HeadquartersLondon, England, UK
Revenue£10.7 million (2013)[1]
£57.1 million (2013)[1]
£4.2 million (2013)[1]
Number of employees
over 11,500[2]
ParentCurrys plc
Websitewww.carphonewarehouse.com Edit this at Wikidata

Carphone Warehouse is a mobile phone retailer based in London, United Kingdom. In August 2014 the company became a subsidiary of Currys plc (previously named "Dixons Carphone"), which was formed by the merger of its former parent Carphone Warehouse Group with Dixons Retail. Prior to this merger, Carphone Warehouse Group was listed on the London Stock Exchange, and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. Following the closure of all stand-alone UK stores in April 2020, all remaining Carphone Warehouse UK outlets were within branches of Currys PC World.[3] In April 2021, the Carphone Warehouse business in Ireland (including all stand-alone and co-located branches and the website) was closed with immediate effect.[4] Currys continued to use the Carphone Warehouse brand in the United Kingdom, online and, until 2021, inside Currys stores.

History

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Early years

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The company was co-founded in 1989 by Sir Charles Dunstone and Julian Brownlie, who put £6,000 into the company from their savings.[5][6] Guy Johnson of NEC UK became the second partner at the company, later taking up the role of Logistics and Distribution director.[7][8] In 1990, Dunstone brought in his school friend David Ross, a chartered accountant,[6][9] who became Chief Operating Officer in the same year.[10]

1999 to 2009

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In January 1999, the company bought Tandy's operations in the United Kingdom for £9 million.[11][12] In July 2000, Carphone Warehouse issued an IPO.[13] In July 2001, Johnson sold the majority of his stake and retired.[7] Carphone Warehouse bought Opal Telecom in November 2002.[14]

In 2003, Ross started to step down from the COO role.[13] In July 2005, he became deputy chairman.[15] On 10 October 2006, the Carphone Warehouse announced that it would purchase the Internet access business of AOL in the United Kingdom for £370m.[16][17] Also in that month, it was announced that Geek Squad would be launching in the United Kingdom, in a 50/50 joint venture between Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy.[18]

In May 2008, Best Buy agreed to buy a 50% share in Carphone Warehouse's retail business for £1.1 billion, to launch the Best Buy Europe joint venture, named CPW Europe.[19][20] Best Buy and Carphone Warehouse also opened joint venture stores in the United States.[21]

Ross, by now a non-executive director, resigned from the board in December 2008.[22]

2010 to 2021

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In 2010, the broadband and home phone business was spun off as TalkTalk.[23]

In May 2014, Carphone Warehouse Group and Dixons Retail announced their merger to create Dixons Carphone. The merger completed on 7 August 2014.[24] The Dixons Group staff moved into 1 Portal Way, the original home of Carphone Warehouse in West London, in May 2015.[25]

In May 2015, Carphone Warehouse launched iD Mobile, a mobile virtual network operator using Three's network.[26]

In April 2020, products and services from the O2 network ceased to be available from Carphone Warehouse after the companies were unable to reach a contractual agreement.[27]

Former Carphone Warehouse Group logo, in use until 2014 merger with Dixons Retail

Closure of stand-alone UK stores

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In March 2020, the company announced that they would be closing all 531 stand-alone UK stores the following month, with sales operations continuing within co-located "shops within shops" at Currys PC World stores and through the website.[28][3] It was said that this measure was a result of the changing mobile market.[3]

Closure in Ireland

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On 21 April 2021, the company announced that the entire business in Ireland, including all 69 standalone stores in Ireland, 12 outlets within other stores, and the carphonewarehouse.ie website would close with immediate effect, with the loss of 486 jobs.[4][29] The company stated the closures were in line with the decision to close all UK stores the previous year, with the changes in the mobile market and customer shopping behaviour being accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Owner Dixons Carphone noted that it would continue to sell phones and accessories in Ireland through Currys PC World stores and the Currys website.[30]

Demergers and disposals

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On 8 May 2009, Carphone Warehouse agreed to pay £236m in cash for the United Kingdom assets of Tiscali, an Italian telecoms group.[31] Tiscali UK later became part of TalkTalk.[32]

In March 2010, TalkTalk and Carphone Warehouse split and Dido Harding became CEO of TalkTalk, and Roger Taylor CEO of New Carphone Warehouse.[33] Dunstone remained Chairman of both companies.[33] On 30 April 2013, Carphone Warehouse agreed to purchase Best Buy's 50% stake in Best Buy Europe for £500 million.[34]

Carphone Warehouse Support Centre in Acton, London (2006)

Carphone Warehouse owned 46% of Virgin Mobile France in a joint venture with Virgin Group. In June 2014, Carphone and Virgin agreed to sell Virgin Mobile France to Numericable for €325 million.[35] French competition regulators, ARCEP, approved the deal in November 2014.[36][37]

Data protection issues

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During April 2005, customers who bought mobile phones from Carphone Warehouse retail outlets alleged that their landline accounts were subsequently switched without their consent.[38]

On 15 August 2006, the Information Commissioner's Office issued Preliminary Enforcement Notices for breaches of PECR (The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations) against Carphone Warehouse and TalkTalk for making marketing calls to people who were signed up to the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) or people who had asked that the company make no further calls to them.[39][40] On 28 October 2006, in an interview in The Times, Richard Thomas, Britain's Information Commissioner, stated:[41]

We're taking action against some of the telecom companies, Talk Talk and Carphone Warehouse. We're taking action against them because we've had a lot of complaints that they've been telephoning people with marketing calls, people whose name is on the telephone preference service. And then we do these prosecutions, particularly with private detectives. We've got a big case coming up.

On 5 August 2015, hackers gained access to customer data for 2.4 million people who had used sites operated by Carphone Warehouse, including OneStopPhoneShop.com, e2save.com, Mobiles.co.uk and TalkTalk Group.[42]

In January 2018, the company was fined £400,000 by the ICO for "multiple inadequacies" in Carphone's security processes, including using old software and failing to carry out routine security testing. Intruders were able to access personal information, including the names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, marital status and, in more than 18,000 cases, historical payment card details of customers of Carphone Warehouse.[43]

Marketing and sponsorship

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The X Factor

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On 19 June 2007, Carphone Warehouse became the official sponsor of the fourth series of The X Factor. The sponsorship deal was to last for three years. Carphone Warehouse also became the sponsor of its spin off show, The Xtra Factor. After Carphone Warehouse and TalkTalk split, TalkTalk took over the sole sponsorship of The X Factor.[44]

Big Brother

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The company were the sponsors for the United Kingdom's version of Big Brother from 2004 to 2007. In 2006, they also sponsored Celebrity Big Brother and related Celebrity Big Brother shows on Channel 4.[45]

On 17 January 2007, in response to alleged racism in Celebrity Big Brother, Charles Dunstone said: "We are talking to Channel 4. The sponsorship is constantly under review. Clearly we are against racism. Most people understand that the person who has their name associated with the programme does not necessarily condone the content."[46][47]

On 18 January 2007, Carphone Warehouse announced that it had suspended its sponsorship of the show as Channel 4 had not taken sufficient action in response to the alleged racism in the show.[45] On 8 March 2007, the company permanently dropped its sponsorship of the show.[48]

Appy Awards

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In April 2011, Carphone Warehouse sponsored the Appy Awards, calling them "the United Kingdom’s first major app awards ceremony designed to recognise innovation and development in app technology".[49]

Charity support

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In October 2001, Carphone Warehouse established a corporate partnership with Get Connected UK, a confidential helpline service for young people, that continues today as "The Mix".[50] Carphone Warehouse supplies Get Connected with office and helpline equipment and has been instrumental in ensuring it is free to call from all landlines and mobiles.[51] This partnership won the Charity Times Corporate Partnership Award in 2003 and the Third Sector Excellence Award for Corporate Partnership in 2006.[52]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Annual Report 2013 Archived 12 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Annual Report 2014" (PDF). Carphone Warehouse Group. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  3. ^ a b c "Carphone store closures to cost 2,900 jobs". BBC News. 17 March 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Carphone Warehouse to close its Irish business, 486 jobs to go". RTE News. 21 April 2021. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  5. ^ Armitstead, Louise (9 May 2011). "Carphone Warehouse founder Charles Dunstone becomes UK's first digital billionaire". The Telegraph. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  6. ^ a b Day, Peter (28 May 2014). "Carphone Warehouse and the art of innovation". BBC News. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  7. ^ a b Cope, Nigel (13 July 2001). "Carphone Warehouse founder quits while he's (£140m) ahead". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 15 October 2009. Retrieved 14 December 2008.
  8. ^ Wray, Richard (13 July 2001). "Founder exits 'back seat' at Carphone Warehouse". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 14 December 2008.
  9. ^ "David Ross appointed to board of the National Portrait Gallery". 10 Downing Street. 17 February 2006. Archived from the original on 6 October 2007. Retrieved 2 November 2006.
  10. ^ "Carphone Warehouse Co-Founder Resigns". CNBC. 8 December 2008. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  11. ^ Cope, Nigel (26 January 1999). "Carphone Warehouse buys Tandy stores". The Independent. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  12. ^ Wray, Richard (8 December 2008). "Profile: David Ross". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 8 December 2008.
  13. ^ a b Sabbagh, Dan (9 December 2008). "David Ross: glitz and glamour of the upper class 'barrow boy' with all the right connections". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  14. ^ "Carphone's BT challenge with £65m Opal buy". The Independent. 7 November 2002.
  15. ^ Wilson, Amy (8 December 2008). "Carphone Warehouse co-founder David Ross quits after disclosure failure". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 8 December 2008.
  16. ^ "Carphone Warehouse to acquire Time Warner's AOL Internet access business in the UK for £370 million". AOL UK Press Release. 11 October 2006. Archived from the original on 19 January 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2006.
  17. ^ "Carphone Warehouse buying AOL UK". BBC News. 11 October 2006. Retrieved 11 October 2006.
  18. ^ Durman, P. "Geek Squad comes to Britain[dead link‍]", The Sunday Times. Retrieved on 4 April 2007.
  19. ^ "Carphone in £1.1bn US partnership". BBC News. 8 May 2008. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
  20. ^ "Carphone Warehouse to buy Best Buy's stake in CPW Europe". MoneyWeek. 30 April 2013. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  21. ^ Khan, Fahad (7 April 2008). "UK's Carphone Warehouse to Open 1000 Stores in US with Best Buy". PhoneNews.com. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  22. ^ Boyle, Catherine (8 December 2008). "Carphone Warehouse chief resigns over share disclosure". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 9 December 2008.
  23. ^ Scroxton, Alex (29 March 2010). "Carphone Warehouse completes TalkTalk split". MicroscopeUK. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  24. ^ "Dixons and Carphone Warehouse shares drop on merger". BBC News. 15 May 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  25. ^ "Dixons and Carphone Merge Offices". 5 May 2014. Archived from the original on 20 April 2018. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  26. ^ Curtis, Sophie (11 May 2016). "Carphone Warehouse reveals pricing plans for iD mobile network". The Telegraph. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  27. ^ "O2 pulls out of Carphone Warehouse stores". Tech Radar. 1 April 2020. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  28. ^ "Dixons Carphone takes essential next step in turnaround of UK Mobile business" (Press release). 17 March 2020. Archived from the original on 18 June 2021. Retrieved 18 June 2021. All UK standalone Carphone Warehouse stores [..] to close [..] Mobile to be sold through Carphone Warehouse shop-in-shops in 305 big Currys PCWorld stores and online
  29. ^ "Carphone Warehouse closes all stores in Ireland". BBC News. 21 April 2021. Archived from the original on 24 April 2021. Retrieved 18 June 2021. Dixons Carphone has closed all its Carphone Warehouse shops in the Republic of Ireland with immediate effect. It had 69 standalone Carphone Warehouses in the country and 12 in-store branches employing more than 450 people. It has also stopped taking orders on its Irish website. The move will not affect Currys PC World Ireland
  30. ^ "Carphone Warehouse has now closed". Carphone Warehouse. 21 April 2021. Archived from the original on 21 April 2021. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  31. ^ "Tiscali deal puts Carphone Warehouse top of broadband league". The Guardian. 8 May 2009. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  32. ^ Beavis, Gareth (8 May 2009). "TalkTalk buys Tiscali UK for £236m". TechRadar. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  33. ^ a b Carphone puts demerger details on the table Sean Buckley. Fierce Telecom. 1 February 2010
  34. ^ Lee, Thomas (4 December 2014). "Best Buy sells its stake in European joint venture to Carphone Warehouse". StarTribune.
  35. ^ "Carphone Warehouse, Virgin agree Virgin Mobile France disposal". Reuters. 30 June 2014. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  36. ^ "Virgin Mobile France" (Press release). Carphone Warehouse Group PLC. 27 June 2014. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  37. ^ Aittokallio, Auri (28 November 2014). "Altice completes SFR acquisition, gets thumbs up for Virgin buy". Telecoms.com. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  38. ^ Brignall, Miles (23 April 2005). "When slamming the phone prompts a row". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 19 March 2007.
  39. ^ "Preliminary Enforcement Notices" (PDF). ICO. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 November 2006. Retrieved 13 November 2006.
  40. ^ "Statutory Instrument 2003 No. 2426 The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003". Office of Public Sector Information. Archived from the original on 14 November 2006. Retrieved 13 November 2006.
  41. ^ Miles, Alice; Rumbelow, Helen (28 October 2006). "Full text of the interview with Richard Thomas". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 25 July 2008. Retrieved 13 November 2006.
  42. ^ "Carphone Warehouse hackers gain access to millions of customer bank details". The Telegraph. 8 August 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  43. ^ "Carphone Warehouse fined £400,000 over 2015 data breach". Financial Times. 10 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  44. ^ Sweney, Mark (19 June 2007). "Carphone Warehouse gets the X Factor". London: MediaGuardian. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
  45. ^ a b "Big Brother sponsor suspends deal". BBC News. 18 January 2007. Retrieved 18 January 2007.
  46. ^ "UK police investigate threats against Big Brother celebs". Ireland on-line. 17 January 2007. Archived from the original on 4 January 2009. Retrieved 17 January 2007.
  47. ^ Brook, Stephen (17 January 2007). "Big Brother complaints explode". The Guardian Unlimited. London. Retrieved 17 January 2007.
  48. ^ "Sponsor evicts C4's Big Brother". BBC News. 8 March 2007. Retrieved 8 March 2007.
  49. ^ "FAQs". appys.com. Archived from the original on 27 February 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
  50. ^ "Charity Partners and Initiatives". Carphone Warehouse. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  51. ^ "Corporate Supporters". getconnected.org.uk. Archived from the original on 30 June 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
  52. ^ "Get Connected appoints Fiona Clark and Helen Wood to senior charity roles". sportbusiness.com. Archived from the original on 10 March 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
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