Leeds nostalgia: First '˜dot.com' millionaire was Leeds game boy

Dateline: August 1999: Leeds-based entrepreneur Dylan Wilk entered the record books after the company he founded - Interactive Commercial Enterprises - was floated on the stock market as Gameplay.com
YORKSHIRE YOUNG ACHIEVERS AWARD AT ELLAND ROAD....PICTURED..DYLAN WILK WINNER MANAGEMENT AND ENTERPRISE...



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YORKSHIRE YOUNG ACHIEVERS AWARD AT ELLAND ROAD....PICTURED..DYLAN WILK WINNER MANAGEMENT AND ENTERPRISE... SEE STORY.. PIX JIM MORAN..PIX JIM MORAN...

The new company floated on the Alternative Investment Market. At the time, aged 25, it was thought he was the youngest director of a limited company.

He set the mail order company up with a £2,500 grant from the Prince’s Trust. When it floated, he received 1.8m shares worth about £2.6m.

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The shares were valued at 135p each, the company had a market value of £53.6m. Dylan would hold a 4.7 per cent stake in the new company and be appointed an executive director, on a salary of £76,000.

It was all part of the ‘dot com boom’, which saw a precipitous rise in share prices for many companies. When Dixon’s floated their Freeserve business, for example, shares rocketed from 150p to 237.5 within a week.

In 2000, The Guardian newspaper named him the ninth-richest man in Britain under the age of 30.

However, by 2001, its fortunes were looking less rosy, as its shares tumbled to single digits and it announced it was looking for buyers. Dylan quit the company and gave himself to charity, helping build settlements for slum dwellers and the homeless in the Phillipines. He founded another company, Human Nature, and now helps those in need.

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