Charles Dunstone first began selling mobile phones out of his flat on Marylebone Road in 1989. He was 25 years old and had £6,000 of savings to start his business, having previously worked at NEC as a sales executive. It was whilst working at NEC that he first spotted the potential of mobile phones and the future of mobile communications. At that time, handsets were large, cumbersome and mainly purchased by big business and large organisations. Corporate clients were well catered for but small businesses, the self-employed and general public had nowhere to go. Dunstone realised that mobile phones would eventually become ubiquitous and named his company The Carphone Warehouse to serve this larger market. In July 2000 the company floated on the London Stock Exchange and based on an Issue price of 200p, the company was valued at approximately £1.7 billion. In 2003 Carphone Warehouse established a subsidiary TalkTalk, from the assets acquired through the purchase of Opal Telecom in 2002. TalkTalk provided homephone and broadband into the UK market. TalkTalk aggressive pricing was disruptive to the market and grew its customer base rapidly. Growth was also through acquisition, purchasing one.tel, AOL, Tele2 and lastly the Tiscali ISP businesses in the UK, this led to the demerger of TalkTalk as a separate business in March 2010. In May 2008, Best Buy, an American multinational consumer electronics corporation, and CPW agreed to create a new company, Best Buy Europe. Best Buy acquired 50% of CPW's European and US retail interests for a cash consideration of £1.1 billion or $2.1 billion. The assets of the newly formed company comprise CPW's existing retail business, operating from more than 2,400 stores in nine European countries under CPW and Phone House brands. These include the UK, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. CPW became the world's largest independent mobile communications retailer, but may now have lost this position. In 2005 Dunstone's salary and bonus came to £689,000. In the Sunday Times Rich List 2006 he was listed in 64th place, with an estimated fortune of £830 million. Dunstone employed the controversial ex-convict Ernest Saunders as a business consultant for Carphone Warehouse prior to its flotation.
Dunstone has 3 A-levels, grades B,C & D. He abandoned his business degree at Liverpool University after taking a gap-year with Torch Computers in Cambridge and then with NEC.
Dunstone has established a charitable trust, which is the main sponsor of the Fulwood Academy school in Preston, Lancashire. He was also an early supporter of the Technology Trust, and has been an ambassador for the Blue Marine Foundation since 2005. Dunstone is married to Celia Gordon Shute, a public relations consultant. Dunstone is considered a member of the Chipping Norton set. His hobbies include sailing, and he is the owner of the classic motor yacht Shemara. He has supported both the Labour Party & the Conservatives. On 26 April 2015, he published an opinion piece in The Daily Mail encouraging the public to vote for the Conservatives on the basis that they were better for the economy.
