THE SUNDAY TIMES – RICH LIST

JASON DRUMMOND
Internet services
£80m ★ 377th

At 15, Drummond used his paper round money to form a company distributing software through newsagents. He stopped the business to take his O-levels but invested in Amstrad shares, which he sold just before the 1987 stock market crash. Drummond, 30, used the cash to launch a fax machine business and later operated in Russia and South Africa. In 1996 he started Virtual Internet with just four staff. Three years later the London-based internet services company was valued at £45m via a reverse takeover which gave it a stock market quote. The shares have raced ahead, and Drummond’s 70% stake is worth £76m. Other assets add £4m. (New entry)