What is Michelle Mone’s Net Worth?
Michelle Mone is a Scottish entrepreneur, media personality, and Conservative peer who has a net worth of $50 million. Michelle Mone’s self-made entrepreneurial story began in Glasgow, where she left school at 15 and entered sales and marketing before spotting a gap in the lingerie market. In the mid-1990s, she and her then-husband, Michael, re-mortgaged their home to fund development of a gel-filled bra designed to provide more comfort and lift than traditional designs. In 1996, she launched MJM International, which produced the “Ultimo” brand. Ultimo was quickly picked up by major UK retailers like Selfridges, propelled by bold advertising campaigns and celebrity models. Mone herself often became the face of the brand, posing in her own products and cultivating a glamorous image as the “bra queen” of Britain.
Ultimo achieved widespread recognition and, at its peak, was one of the UK’s most visible lingerie labels. Mone expanded her business interests into jewelry, interiors, and beauty products, while also becoming a familiar face on British television as a business personality and motivational speaker.
Her public standing shifted dramatically during and after the pandemic. A company linked to Mone and her husband, Doug Barrowman, was awarded over £200 million in government contracts through the controversial “VIP lane.” On October 1, 2025, the High Court ruled that their company, PPE Medpro, had breached its gown contract and must repay £122 million ($150 million) to the Department of Health and Social Care. The judgment concluded the 25 million sterile surgical gowns supplied in 2020 were not validly certified as sterile, and evidence later revealed the vast majority of sample gowns failed sterility testing. While Mone and her husband have condemned the decision and continue to deny wrongdoing, the ruling, together with a separate criminal investigation, has come to dominate assessments of her career and legacy.
Early Life
Michelle Georgina Mone was born in Glasgow’s East End and raised in Dennistoun in a working-class family. She left school at 15 without qualifications, taking early jobs in sales, modeling, and promotions. She worked as a “ring girl” at boxing matches before moving into marketing roles. Her ambition was clear: she later said she wanted “to make something of myself” and prove that someone from her background could break into business.
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Ultimo and Business Career
Mone’s defining venture began in the mid-1990s. After attending a brassiere exhibition, she became convinced that traditional lingerie could be improved with silicone gel inserts that provided greater comfort and lift. In 1996, she and her husband, Michael, re-mortgaged their home, taking on around £70,000 in debt to launch MJM International and develop what became the Ultimo bra.
Her breakthrough came in 1999, when she traveled unannounced to London and persuaded Selfridges lingerie buyer Virginia Marcolin to stock the product. Selfridges unveiled the bra in a headline-grabbing stunt with models wearing Ultimo in the store’s windows. The products sold out almost immediately, and the brand gained national attention.
Cash flow remained tight, but she secured vital backing from Scottish entrepreneur Tom Hunter, who had recently sold JJB Sports for hundreds of millions. Around this time, PR executive Jack Irvine helped craft Mone’s media image. Newspapers eagerly embraced her rags-to-riches tale, and she leaned heavily into bold publicity stunts. One story claimed Julia Roberts wore an Ultimo bra in “Erin Brockovich,” a myth later denied by the filmmakers but widely repeated.
Ultimo expanded rapidly into swimwear, shapewear, and international licensing. Celebrity campaigns with models and actresses helped keep the brand in the headlines, and Mone herself often posed in her own products, enhancing her image as both the designer and the glamorous figurehead.
Despite its fame, Ultimo struggled financially. MJM International never generated more than £10 million in annual turnover and sometimes posted losses. Behind the scenes, the company faced legal disputes, including a case in which an employee discovered a recording device in his office. Still, Mone kept the brand in the public eye and marketed herself as one of Britain’s top female entrepreneurs.
In 2011, she divorced her husband and bought him out of the business. She continued to front Ultimo as both CEO and model until 2014, when she sold her majority stake. By then, the brand was in decline, but Mone remained a public figure, branching into jewelry, interiors, beauty, and motivational speaking.
House of Lords Appointment
Originally a Labour supporter, Mone defected to the Conservatives in 2010 and campaigned vigorously against Scottish independence in 2014. Prime Minister David Cameron soon appointed her as his “entrepreneurship tsar” and, in 2015, elevated her to the Lords as Baroness Mone of Mayfair.
Her choice of “Mayfair” over a Scottish territorial designation was criticized as image-driven branding. Business leaders publicly questioned her record, pointing out that MJM’s revenues never exceeded £10.1 million and that the company was often in financial difficulty. Scottish businessman Donald Anderson called her appointment “a mistake,” saying she represented “1% glamour” rather than the grind of real enterprise.
Still, the title gave Mone political influence and further cemented her celebrity status. But within years, her peerage would become a focal point of scandal rather than recognition.
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The PPE Medpro Scandal
On May 12, 2020, just seven weeks into lockdown, PPE Medpro was incorporated. That same day, Mone referred it into the government’s High Priority “VIP lane.” The next day, the company offered to supply 210 million facemasks, and by June it had secured a £122 million contract to provide 25 million sterile gowns, alongside an £80.85 million masks contract.
The gowns were manufactured in China, shipped to the UK in late 2020, and stored after inspections raised concerns. Testing showed 103 of 140 gowns failed sterility standards, and they were ultimately destroyed. Court filings revealed civil servants flagged a conflict of interest given Barrowman’s connection, but proceeded anyway. When negotiations faltered, PPE Medpro director Anthony Page enlisted Mone as the “big gun.” She directly contacted Cabinet Office officials, threatening escalation and insisting a contract had been agreed.
Mone initially denied involvement, but in December 2023, admitted she had acted as a conduit between PPE Medpro and ministers. She also acknowledged that she and her children could benefit from a trust into which her husband had transferred £29 million from PPE Medpro’s profits. Barrowman personally pocketed at least £65 million.
On October 1, 2025, Mrs Justice Cockerill ruled PPE Medpro breached its contract, finding the gowns were “not, contractually speaking, sterile” and had been improperly CE-marked. The firm was ordered to repay £121,999,219 by October 15. The government’s claim for £8 million in storage costs was dismissed, but the ruling was unequivocal: PPE Medpro failed to deliver compliant equipment.
The company, with net assets of just £666,025, is now in administration. The Crown Prosecution Service has frozen £75 million of assets linked to Mone and Barrowman. Anti-corruption groups are pressing the government to pursue compensation orders against directors to recover taxpayer money.
Mone and Barrowman insist they are scapegoats for the government’s wider £10 billion PPE overspend. Mone has described the judgment as “politically motivated.”
Personal Life
Michelle married Michael Mone in 1988 and had three children before their divorce in 2011. She later entered a relationship with businessman Doug Barrowman, whom she married in 2020. The couple relocated to the Isle of Man and became involved in ventures including cryptocurrency investments. Their partnership has since been inseparable from the PPE Medpro controversy, with Barrowman acknowledging he was the ultimate owner and financial beneficiary of the firm.
Legacy and Reputation
For two decades, Michelle Mone built a public image as one of the UK’s most visible entrepreneurs — a working-class Glaswegian who fought her way into the fashion industry and created a lingerie brand that became synonymous with glamour. She was admired as a motivational figure and celebrated for her ability to command media attention.
That image has now been eclipsed. The PPE Medpro scandal, the High Court ruling to repay £122 million, and the ongoing NCA investigation have made her a symbol of pandemic-era cronyism. She has lost the Conservative whip, taken leave from the House of Lords, and become the focus of fierce public criticism.
The story of Michelle Mone has become a modern parable: a carefully crafted rags-to-riches narrative that captured headlines, but one undone by controversy, hubris, and political scandal.
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