Nigel Patrick Robertson (born 13 August 1962) is a British

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

and businessman, best known as the founder of FreePages plc (later renamed Scoot.com). Nigel was included in the 2005 Sunday Times Rich List and Monaco's Rich List in 2007.

Biography

Nigel Robertson is a great-grandson of Austin Reed, the founder of Austin Reed Group plc, the British fashion retail chain. He attended Feltonfleet School in

Cobham, Surrey Cobham () is a large village in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, centred south-west of London and northeast of Guildford on the River Mole, Surrey, River Mole. It has a commercial/services High Street, a significant number of pr ...

and

Canford School Canford School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18). Situated in 300 acres of parkland near to the market town of Wimborne Minster in Dorset, south west England, it is one of the largest ...

near

Wimborne Minster Wimborne Minster (often referred to as Wimborne, ) is a market town in Dorset in South West England, and the name of the Church of England church in that town. It lies at the confluence of the River Stour and the River Allen, north of Pool ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

. Nigel grew up in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

and today lives partly in

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hil ...

, Los Angeles, and partly in

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

Business ventures

Nigel Robertson started his career in the advertising industry in 1981 as a media planner/buyer with Michael Bungey DFS. In 1984, he joined

Television South West Television South West (TSW) was the ITV (TV network), ITV franchise holder for the South West England region from 1 January 1982 until 31 December 1992, broadcasting from studios at Derry's Cross in Plymouth, Devon. History Origins and Launc ...

as an advertising sales executive. Subsequently, he became a director and shareholder of the advertising agency Squires White Robertson Gill plc in 1987. Four years later, he co-founded the directory business FreePages plc, later rebranded as Scoot.com and quoted on the

Alternative Investment Market AIM (formerly the Alternative Investment Market) is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange that was launched on 19 June 1995 as a replacement to the previous Unlisted Securities Market, Unlisted Securities Market (USM) that had been in opera ...

(AIM) in 1994. Robertson stepped down and left the company in 1998 and went to live in Monaco. In 2004 he founded Blue Star Capital plc as a vehicle to invest in private companies while working alongside management to help them develop their businesses. A number of these companies have now been quoted on AIM, including ASOS plc. Robertson resigned from Blue Star Capital in December 2008.Press release from Blue Star Capital plc, 6 December 2008
/ref> In 2011, he founded Disruptive Tech Ltd, an investment holding company in disruptive technologies.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Nigel People educated at Canford School English businesspeople Living people 1962 births People from Redhill, Surrey English expatriates in the United States English expatriates in Monaco