Joe Lewis (born east London in 1936 or 1937) is an English businessman who lives in Lyford Cay, Bahamas.
Lewis made his initial wealth expanding the family’s catering business, then selling luxury goods to tourists, and finally moving into currency trading in the 1970s—resulting in his move to the Bahamas. Lewis currently is the main investor in Tavistock Group, which owns more than 175 companies in 15 countries. Tavistock Group's portfolio includes life sciences (Kalypsys, Ambrx), sports teams (Tottenham Hotspur) and sporting events (Tavistock Cup, Isleworth Collegiate Invitational), manufacturing and distribution (KangaROOS, Gottex), oil, gas and energy (BayCorp, Pampa Energia), financial services, restaurants (Freeb!rds World Burrito, Mitchells & Butlers plc, Zed451), commercial properties (Tamar Capital, Bulgarian Property Development), private luxury residential properties (Isleworth Golf & Country Club, Lake Nona Golf & Country Club, Old Fort Bay), resort properties (Albany, Harmony Cove) and master-planned real estate developments (Lake Nona, New Providence Development Company).
Lewis hosts the Tavistock Cup tournament every March in Florida, raising millions of dollars for charity, and owns the two clubs that compete: the Lake Nona Golf & Country Club (resident Ernie Els) and the Isleworth Golf & Country Club (resident Tiger Woods). Lewis recently finished building a new golf community in the Bahamas called Albany, which opened October 2010. Woods and Els are also major shareholders in the luxury resort community located in New Providence. A 71-slip mega-yacht marina, an Els-designed championship golf course, a luxury boutique hotel, water park, kids' clubhouse, adult pool, spa and fitness center, and a variety of restaurants and bars are among the amenities Albany offers.
Lewis has also been a force in bringing biotechnology and new healthcare offerings to Central Florida. With his philanthropic support, Tavistock Group’s 7,000-acre (28 km2) Lake Nona master plan development is an emerging biomedical research and educational hub highlighted by the University of Central Florida College of Medicine and the Sanford Burnham Institute for Medical Research at Lake Nona. Construction is underway on Nemours Children’s Hospital, one of the nation's largest children's health systems, as well as the Orlando Veterans Affairs Medical Center, which will serve Central Florida’s 400,000 veterans. Both Lake Nona facilities are scheduled to open in 2012.
In addition, the University of Florida announced its plans to build a Lake Nona academic and research center, which will house a Comprehensive Drug Development Center, the UF College of Pharmacy doctoral program and biomedical research laboratories.
On 10 September 2007, he was in the news for having paid US$860.4 million in an all-cash purchase of a 7% stake in Bear Stearns.[1] By December 2007 Lewis had raised his stake at the brokerage firm to 9.4%, a total of 11 million shares, for which he paid an average price of $107 apiece.[2] Lewis was thought to be buying stock on behalf of some of his business partners as well.[3] After the purchase of Bear Stearns by JP Morgan for $10 a share, it was estimated that Lewis and his partners had lost over $1 billion dollars.[4]
He is more recently known for spear-heading a £70 million investment in Bulgarian property development.[5]
He is the majority shareholder of British Pub group Mitchells & Butlers, controlling 23% of the issued share capital.
Lewis' total wealth is estimated at $3 billion, and he is listed as the 316th richest person of Forbes’ List of billionaires (2010). The Sunday Times’ Rich List reports Lewis is the 17th wealthiest Brit worth £2.7 billion.
