EasyJet Founder on Spending Spree

EasyJet's founder, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, has sold £14m of shares in the budget airline to fund a "shopping spree" this week which has involved purchases of a cruise ship, a hotel in west London and a fleet of Mercedes minibuses.

The serial entrepreneur has been gradually liquidating his investment in EasyJet to fund new ventures.

His latest sale of 4m shares brings his total proceeds to £40m from offloading stock over the last year.

Mr Haji-Ioannou said the money had gone towards the establishment of his no-frills cruising venture EasyCruise, a budget accommodation concept, EasyHotel, and a new inter-city coach firm, EasyBus.

All three new companies are due to be up and running by summer 2005, which will take his total number of start-ups to 11 in 11 years.

"I invested in EasyJet 10 years ago - this is me getting my payback" said Mr Haji-Ioannou yesterday. "I hope the same thing will eventually happen with the new businesses."

The Greek businessman has taken concrete steps this week towards turning his new ideas into reality. In one of his biggest investments to date, he has bought a 250-room cruise ship, Renaissance 2, which was operated by US firm Renaissance Cruises before its bankruptcy in 2001.

He intends to refit the 14-year-old vessel with cabins measuring 90sq ft and will begin taking bookings later this year for sailings from summer 2005.

To kick off an EasyHotels chain, Mr Haji-Ioannou is finalising a contract to buy a 25-room hotel in Earls Court, which will offer basic accommodation from £5 a night. Guests can either bring their own bedding or face a £20 housekeeping charge.

He has also purchased a 10-strong fleet of 16-seat minibuses for the imminent launch of EasyBus, an inter-city service which will initially run between cities along the M1 motorway, dropping off passengers at edge-of-town stops.

Mr Haji-Ioannou's family still owns 41% of EasyJet - a stake worth some £470m.

The share price fell 7.5p to 354.5p.