Sir Alan Sugar says "You're fired" to himself

Wednesday, 2 July 2008

The Apprentice boss Sir Alan Sugar has stepped down from his role as Chairman of Amstrad, the company he founded almost 40 years ago.

The entrepreneur - more recently known as the straight-talking boardroom boss on BBC's The Apprentice - says that it's a planned move following Amstrad's sale to Sky in 2007.

But the 61 year-old's not planning to retire just yet as he still other business interests to consider, in Amshold, Amsprop, Amsair and Viglen computers.

He says: "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 credit to the talented and loyal team here.

Alan's wealth has grown considerably in recent years. He ranked 92nd in the 2008 Sunday Times Rich List (down from 84th in 2007), with much of his £830million net worth coming from his property portfolio.

Sir Alan Sugar as the Apprentice boss

However it's Amstrad that has been his big success story.

He founded the electronics company at the age of 21, just five years after he left school.

Amstrad was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1980 and was sold to Sky last July in a £125million deal.

For the last 10 months, Sir Alan has been working closely with the Managing Director of Amstrad Alun Webber.

Sir Alan added: "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."

Sir Alan will certainly be keeping his most renowned job though - as the boss on The Apprentice - when the programme returns for a 5th series next year.

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Image credit: WENN and BBC