John Caudwell is an English billionaire who has made most of his money in the mobile phone business.

The Caudwell Group was founded by brothers John and Brian Caudwell in 1987 as Midland Mobile Phones, a small local business which took 8 months to sell its first order of 26 phones (The Caudwell Group now sells 26 phones every minute).

Developing from a small dealership to a wholesale distributor, turnover expanded to £13 million in 1991, making it the UK's largest independent distributor of cellular phones.

In 1996 and 1997, The Caudwell Group was named the UK's fastest growing company for 2 years in succession - growth which is exemplified by the increase in turnover from £13 million in 1991 to over £1 billion in 2000.

Vital to this success have been the partnerships forged with both customers and suppliers, with the aim of giving key stakeholders maximum value and flexibility in order to remain their preferred choice.

From this UK success The Caudwell Group has further expanded to employ over 8,000 worldwide. Its companies specialise in every area of the mobile communications market, yet are able to complement each other, working as a team to ensure The Caudwell Group's continued success as a whole.

The Caudwell Group owns mobile phone retailer Phones4U, handset sourcing firm 20:20 Logistics and Dextra Solutions. In 2003 Caudwell sold the mobile phone services operation Singlepoint to Vodafone, for £405m (then $648m).