ABSTRACT
Simon Franks sold his first business at the tender age of 11. During chilly winter lunch-breaks at his North London school children were forced to play outside. Franks set up a business selling chicken soup, aided by a teacher who would bring him boiling water and he would fill cuppa soups and sell them at a hefty margin. A busy trade ensued, to the point of such success that a group of other kids bought the ‘business’ from him. Some 20 years later, Franks sold 51 per cent of Redbus Distribution first to Helkon for $23m, and then the same company again four years later to Lionsgate for $35m in cash plus $7m of stock. This case study, from an interview with the author, examines Franks’ entrepreneurial ride with Redbus Film Distribution.
