Boohoo founder facing £118m legal battle

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Jun 10, 2019

Boohoo co-founder and chairman Mahmud Kamani is being sued for £118.5 million by an IT contractor who claims to be the retailer’s third founder.

Richard Womack was hired to build the fashion brand’s website ahead of its launch at the Clothes Show Live in 2006, and claims to have been heavily involved in the management and control of site after the launch date.

He said he also helped develop key ideas for concepts and marketing campaigns, including selecting the logo for the brand, without receiving remuneration.

Manchester based JMW Solicitors is representing Womack, who is now demanding the multimillion pound sum and a 10% stake in the business, reported The Daily Mail.

Popular with teenagers and women in their early 20s, Boohoo is now a retail group comprising Boohoo, BoohooMan, PrettyLittleThing and Nasty Gal. It sells its products to customers in almost every country in the world, with the UK, US, Europe and Australia as its largest markets.

In the year ended 28 February 2019, the group made revenues of £856.9 million, up 48% on the prior year’s period. Pre-tax profits soared 38% to £59.9 million.

Boohoo was founded by Mahmud Kamani and former chief executive officer Carol Kane.

Explaining the legal claim, Richard Womack said: “I've never received a single penny for my work on the website and it's just not right, particularly when, the reality is, Boohoo has three founders, not two.

“We agreed that I would receive 10% in the company by way of remuneration for the work I did and that's all I ask for – what was agreed.”

But a spokesperson for Kamani told the newspaper that Womack’s demands were “opportunistic” and that this is not the first time he has tried to extract money from the billionaire retail mogul.

“Womack's allegations are entirely without merit,” said a spokesman for Kamani's law firm, Pannone Corporate.