Charles Dunstone

Dunstone was born on 21 November 1964 in Saffron Walden, Essex. He was educated at Uppingham School, an independent school for boys (now co-educational) in the market town of Uppingham, Rutland. Dunstone's father was an executive at BP.

Carphone Warehouse

In 1983, having accepted an offer to study business at the University of Liverpool, Dunstone decided to defer his studies for a year and accept a sales job at Torch Computers in Cambridge. After a year, he decided to continue at Torch instead of pursuing his studies, eventually leaving for a sales position at NEC in 1986.

It was whilst working at NEC, tasked initially with selling computers and then mobile phones, that he first spotted the potential of mobile phones and the future of mobile communications. At that time, handsets were large, cumbersome and mainly purchased by big business and large organisations. Corporate clients were well catered for but small businesses, the self-employed and the general public had little recourse to the technology. Dunstone realised that mobile phones would eventually become ubiquitous and left NEC in 1989 to start his own business serving this larger market.

Naming his company The Carphone Warehouse (CPW), emphasising a broad range of products and low prices, Dunstone first began selling mobile phones out of his flat on Marylebone Road in 1989. He was 25 years old and had £6,000 of savings to start his business.

In July 2000 the company floated on the London Stock Exchange and, based on an Issue price of 200p, was valued at approximately £1.7 billion.

In 2003 Carphone Warehouse established a subsidiary, TalkTalk, from the assets acquired through the purchase of Opal Telecom in 2002. TalkTalk provided home phone and broadband in the UK market and quickly grew a customer base through the acquisition of one.tel, AOL, Tele2 and the UK arm of Tiscali, from which TalkTalk eventually separated in March 2010.

In December 2019, Dunstone purchased £10 million worth of shares in TalkTalk, meaning he now owns 29.5% of the company's stock.

In May 2008, Best Buy, an American multinational consumer electronics corporation and Carphone Warehouse created a new company, Best Buy Europe. Best Buy acquired 50% of CPW's European and US retail interests for £1.1 billion (or, $2.1 billion). The assets of the newly-formed company comprised CPW's existing retail business, operating from more than 2,400 stores in nine European countries under the Carphone Warehouse and Phone House brands. These included the UK, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

In 2005 Dunstone's salary and bonus amounted to £689,000. In the Sunday Times Rich List 2006 he was listed in 64th place, with an estimated fortune of £830 million.

Dunstone employed the controversial ex-convict Ernest Saunders as a business consultant for Carphone Warehouse prior to its flotation.

Dunstone established a charitable trust, which is the main sponsor of the Fulwood Academy school in Preston, Lancashire.

In November 2013, the Prime Minister appointed Dunstone to the board of trustees of Royal Museums Greenwich. Dunstone was reappointed in 2017 but resigned in February 2021 before the end of his second term. He has donated to both the Labour and Conservative parties.

Dunstone is considered a member of the Chipping Norton set. His hobbies include sailing, and he is the owner of the classic racing yacht Blitzen and the classic 64 m (210 ft) motor yacht Shemara.