TIM
WATERSTONE
Chairman
of HMV Media
Group and
Founder of
Waterstone’s
and Daisy
& Tom
One of the
most astute
and determined
businessmen
of recent
years, Tim
Waterstone
is the founder
chairman of
HMV Media
Group plc
(HMV music
stores and
Waterstone’s
bookstores)
and is the
founder of
the Daisy
& Tom
children’s
department
stores.
Tim was born
in Glasgow
and worked
for Allied
Breweries
before joining
WH Smith in
1973. Tim
founded the
remarkably
successful
Waterstone’s
booksellers
with £6000
of the redundancy
money he received
when he was
sacked from
WH Smith in
1982. He went
on to raise
£100,000
venture capital
and set up
Waterstone’s
Booksellers
with its first
shop in London’s
Old Brompton
Road. Tim
established
Waterstone’s
reputation
as ‘the
eponymous
classy bookshop’
and changed
the face of
British book
retailing.
Waterstone’s
was also one
of the two
or three largest
and most successful
venture capital
entities of
its time.
Nine years
later he sold
the company
to his previous
employers
for £47m,
only to buy
it back again
together with
EMI and Advent
International
in 1998!
Waterstone’s
now has over
200 stores,
and is developing
internationally.
September
1999 Waterstone’s
opened the
largest bookshop
in the world
in London’s
Piccadilly.
Having been
founded by
Waterstone,
the company
has benefited
from a consistent
strategy of
combining
buying power
and marketing
muscle of
multiple retailers
with the high
standard of
service associated
with independent
book stores.
Tim’s
latest venture
is Daisy &
Tom children’s
department
stores offering
everything
from clothes
to books,
toys to hairdressing
for children
aged 0-8 under
one roof.
A unique concept
to the world
of children’s
retailing.
A man with
diverse interests,
Tim has held
a variety
of other general
appointments
in business
and his expertise
translates
well to the
fields of
arts and education.
Tim has served
on the boards
of several
companies,
including
some young
companies
where his
expertise
in building
up a business
proved invaluable.
Tim is currently
a non-executive
director of
Yale University
Press, National
Gallery Publications
and FutureStart
Venture Capital
Fund of BT
and Downing
Classic Venture
Capital Fund.
He is an occasional
guest lecturer
at INSEAD,
London Business
School, and
a novelist
with three
books published
to date, as
well as numerous
published
and broadcast
articles and
programmes
in general,
literary and
business media.
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