Born less than half a mile from the Liverpool docks where his father worked as a labourer, Hargreaves left school at 14 and got a job on a market stall. Within five years he started his own business. He floated his Matalan discount fashion chain in 1998, valued at £200m, but bought it back in 2006 for £817m. Today, it should be worth £1.25 billion. In April 2010, Hargreaves refinanced the Skelmersdale-based company in a £525m deal that led to him taking a £250m dividend from Matalan. Allowing for any debt in the business, the Sunday Times Rich List valued Hargreaves at £1.3 billion.