يشتهر السير دايفيد والسير فريدريك باركلي بلقب “الأخوان باركلي” أو ” التوأم باركلي” وهما اثنان من أنجح رجال الأعمال البريطانيين العصاميين

They started from scratch and came from a modest background, growing up in a family of 10 children in the London countryside. They worked across a range of industries, including media,

retail, real estate, and shipping. The Sunday Times Rich List estimated their fortune at around £7.2 billion.

David and Frederick Barclay were born on October 27, 1934, in Hammersmith, west London, to Scottish parents. They were two of 10 children.

They lost their father when they were young, at the age of 12, and left school at 16 to take their first steps toward

The path that led them to the prosperous life they enjoy today.

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Getting Started in Business

The brothers began working in the accounts department at General Electric before moving into decorating and painting. By the end of the 1950s, they were running

the Candy Corner sweet shop on Kensington High Street, but declared bankruptcy after being evicted by the landlord.

The Foundation of the Barclay EmpireIn 1962, David ran an estate agency with his wife, while Frederick ran a small business of his own. Together, they

rebuilt, renovated and decorated many old houses in London, turning them into hotels and making a considerable fortune. Between 1968 and 1974,

The twins received substantial loans from the government agency Crown, which aims to help colonies and developing countries do business in Britain,

وتمكنا في عام 1970 من شراء سلسلة فنادق جيستبلان “Gestplan“.

In the late 1960s, the Barclay brothers bought stakes in a variety of companies. In 1975, they bought the Howard Hotel, overlooking the River

التايمز في تيمبل بلاس. وبعد ذلك، قاما بشراء شركة إلرمان “Ellerman” للشحن في عام 1983 والتي وضعت حجر الأساس لإمبراطوريتهما

used the company’s substantial proceeds to buy the Ritz Hotel in London’s Piccadilly in 1995, followed by Bermuda-based shipping company Gotaas-Larsen,

and a chain of car retail stores in 1994.

Brothers David and Frederick entered the media world in a big way in 1990, when they bought the Sunday Business newspaper and the European newspaper

Scottish in 1992 and turned it into a high-quality weekly paper. However, they closed the latter after a series of heavy losses in 1998. In

1995, they bought The Scotsman, which they sold in December 2005.

The brothers bought the renowned Telegraph Media Group in July 2004, which includes The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph and The Spectator, but after

months of intense bidding and lawsuits. أصبحت مجموعة تليجراف مملوكة لشركة هولينجر من تورونتو، كندا، وهي مجموعة الصحف التي

controlled by Canadian-born British businessman Conrad Black.

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Retail

ومن جهة أخرى، قام الأخوان بالعديد من الاستثمارات الناجحة في مجال البيع بالتجزئة وعقدا صفقات مع يودل “Yodel” للأغذية السويسرية، وليتل

وودس “Littlewoods” للبيع بالتجزئة، ومن ثم باعا موقع “handbag.com” الذي تم إنشاؤه كمشروع مشترك بين هولينجر الدولية ومجموعة

بوتس في عام 1999. وأخيراً اشترى الأخوان مجموعة شوب ديريكت “Shop Direct Group” التي تبيع منتجات العلامتين التجارتين وولورثز

“Woolworths” ولادي بيرد “Ladybird“.