Carphone Warehouse founder quits while he's (£140m) ahead

A mobile phone entrepreneur who helped found the Carphone Warehouse chain of high street stores has quit with a £140m fortune at the age of 37 to "take life easier".

Guy Johnson was one of a trio of young managers who helped set up Carphone Warehouse in 1989. Assisted by the boom in mobile phones, the company has grown to be worth £1bn on the stock market.

The business was formed with £6,000 by Charles Dunstone, 36, and David Ross, 35, who had met at Uppingham, the public school in Leicestershire.

Their first 'offices' were set up in Mr Dunstone's flat in Harley Street, central London, and Mr Johnson joined soon after. He had been one of Mr Dunstone's customers at NEC, the electronics company.

Mr Johnson made £20m from the float of the company last year and still holds nearly 93m shares worth £120m.

One rival retailer said: "It's everyone's dream really. He's young, he's made all this money. He doesn't have to do anything."

Mr Johnson was predominantly responsible for product distribution and logistics in the UK for Carphone Warehouse, which has established itself as Britain's leading mobile phone specialist.

However, he had been gradually winding down his involvement with the group.

A spokesman for Carphone Warehouse said there had been no "bust-up" and that Mr Johnson was leaving because the business "had outgrown him." One executive said: "Like Ringo Starr, he was in the right place at the right time."

Mr Johnson lives near Tring in Hertforsdshire with his girlfriend who is expecting their second child. He could not be contracted yesterday as he is on holiday in Spain.

A colleague said: "Either he has his mobile phone switched off or he is out of range."

Mr Dunstone, the chief executive of Carphone Warehouse, said: "As the business has got bigger he said he wanted to spend less time with it. We've been talking for a while about the next step. I think he's going to take some time off.

"He's clearly made a lot of money and he's got a young daughter with a baby on the way. He's a good friend and leaves with our best wishes."

Mr Johnson was paid £311,000 last year but will receive no compensation for loss of office. He holds 92.76m shares. When Carphone Warehouse shares hit 223p last year his stake was worth £207m though its value has since slumped. Mr Johnson has agreed not to sell any of his shares for two years, without the prior consent of the board.

Mr Johnson's stake was equivalent to 11 per cent of the company. Mr Dunstone owns shares worth £658m. Mr Ross's shares are worth £461m. The company had not originally planned to delay the announcement regarding Mr Johnson's departure for a couple of weeks.

However, it was brought forward to avoid damaging stock market speculation regarding a possible profits warning or a management shake-up.

The company said the disruption caused by Mr Johnson's departure would be minimal as other senior managers had already taken over many of his responsibilities.