Phone tycoon dossing down after losing £50 million
Thursday, October 18, 2001
A mobile phone millionaire is dossing down in his brother's flat after losing his £50 million fortune.

Jason Pickthall set up mobile phone firm, the Phone People. It was worth £50 million just 18 months ago.

Now the firm has crashed and Jason has had to sell his red Ferrari and half a million pound mansion. He says he led an "extravagent lifestyle".

Jason, 31, set up the firm in Southport, Merseyside, and soon had 100 outlets.

He was tenth in The Sunday Times Rich List of young millionaires last year - eight places above Posh Spice and David Beckham.

He owned a red Ferrari, a £550,000 mansion in Rufford, Merseyside, and spent weekends in Monte Carlo.

Orange had offered to buy his firm for £37 million but he turned them down, reports The Sun.

He later sold his half stake for a lot less to his business partner. The firm then went bust and Jason was ordered to hand over cash from the sale. It was only a fraction of what he was worth months before but he had already spent it.

Jason has now applied for a bankruptcy order and his marriage has collapsed. He is currently living in his brother's flat.

He said: "It's all gone. Obviously I led an extravagant lifestyle. I have nothing now. I'll have to start again."

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