Robert Bull is the 88th richest person in the UK after making his fortune from building bungalow villages for people who wanted to sell their homes and downsize.
But what is the story behind Robert Bull and what is his net worth?
Who is Robert Bull?
Robert Bull was born in Hampshire in 1977.
Bull’s grandfather started in the caravan park industry after World War 2 in 1945 and all his children went into the same business.
Bull’s dad became a millionaire at a young age but lost everything in the 1990s banking crisis.
In 2016, Bull also went bankrupt after he and his business partner couldn’t agree on a way forward, despite creating the second-largest group of caravan parks in the UK.
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Bull’s life spiralled out of control as he became depressed, forcing him to take three months off work.
Bull said: “I was very lonely, miserable and depressed. There was a huge amount of shame and it gave me a breakdown. I’d borrowed money from people I’d known since childhood and lost it.
“It killed me because everybody I spoke to said, ‘You let me down’. It broke my heart and made me cry.”
He added: “My dad came out of semi-retirement and helped me raise $12 million and within a year the business was worth $125 million.
“They can take everything from you but not your know-how.”
In 2017, he spotted a gap in the housing market and had the idea of turning caravan parks into bungalow villages for people who were looking to sell their homes and downsize.
His company, Royale Group, bought a caravan park near Southampton and got planning permission to build new bungalows.
He built 20 bungalows on the site and sold them all in one day.
In just a year he had sold 100 new bungalows.
Bull also bought people’s old homes at market value and sold them a factory-prefabricated bungalow.
Each bungalow came with a drive, a garden and a shed. There were no fees, and the buyers kept the equity from their house sale.
By 2018, Bull had paid back his debts.
He said: “I repaid every penny I’d owed and one of the guys who sued me for $95,000 and put me in the bankruptcy court, we bought his business two years ago for $53 million.”
In 2019, an investment group loaned him $50 million which went on to aid Bull become the UK’s largest bungalow provider.
Bull has plans to build 2,000 eco-friendly bungalows a year. They’ll be sold for between $200,000 and half a million.
What is Robert Bull’s net worth?
Robert Bull has a net worth of $2.4 billion.
His company, Royale Group, is now worth $5 billion and employs 2,000 workers.
Bull lives in a $12.5 million mansion in Southampton, which has a three-lane bowling alley and six garages, storing a collection of 12 supercars, including two Lamborghinis, five Rolls Royces, a Bentley and a Ferrari.
Bull said: “They’re all special. You can’t just go to a garage and buy them, they have either body kits, unusual colours or they’ve had the engines expanded. We’ve also got the fastest Porsche 911 turbo in the world.”
Bull also has a $1.6 million home in Kristiansund, Norway
Bull said: “We donate $25,000 a month to mental health charities, the British Heart Foundation, Help for Heroes, Cancer Research UK and the Aldridge Foundation.”