- Source of Wealth: Wine (Laithwaite)
- Marital Status: Married
- Full Name: Tony and Barbara Laithwaite
- Nationality: British
- Ethnicity: English
- Occupation: Businesspeople
- Education: Durham University
- Children: 3 (Henry, Will and Tom)
With more than 2,500 wines and 1,000-plus employees, the Laithwaites wine business made the £11m profit on £344.2m sales in 2009-10. The couple currently has a net worth of $210 million.
The couple’s business is called Bordeaux Direct. It was unique because they only sell wines that were bottled by the producers. They do this because they simply had more flavor as well as character. It is also totally authentic that even any newcomer will enjoy its goodness and quality.
Now, after multiple decades, they are called Laithwaite’s Wine and deliver wine to more than 700 thousand customers. They are now bigger but they still go ‘direct’ so that costs will be minimal.
Their company has a huge network of supplier contacts and some of them are now grandchildren of the people they started with. They still only do high-quality, minimal production from producers that came from every known corner of the wine world. The couple still travels and searches for the really good tasting wines.
Their company has a strong balance sheet that has assets that are worth $52.56 million. Chaired and owned by Laithwaite is the Reading-based Direct Wines. Their family assets are worth $6.51 million and family trusts are worth $130.10 million.