Gerald Ratner

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Gerald Irving Ratner (born 1949 in London), is a British businessman. He is best known as the former millionaire chief executive of the major British jewellery chain Ratners Jewellery, when he achieved notoriety after making a speech which caused the company's bankruptcy.

1 Biography
- 1.1 The speech
- 1.2 After Signet
2 Personal life
3 References and notes
4 External links

[edit] Biography

Gerald Ratner based his philosophy of business on his experiences as a boy in Petticoat Lane Market. He observed that "the people who shouted the loudest and appeared to give the best offers sold the most."^[1] Ratner joined the family business in 1966, and on this basis he built up an extremely successful chain of jewellers during the 1980s, of which he was chief executive. The shops shocked the formerly staid jewellery industry by displaying fluorescent orange posters advertising cut price bargains, and by offering low price ranges.

[edit] The speech

Although widely regarded as "tacky", the shops and their wares were nevertheless extremely popular with the public, until Ratner made a speech at the Institute of Directors in April 1991. During the speech, he said:

We also do cut-glass sherry decanters complete with six glasses on a silver-plated tray that your butler can serve you drinks on, all for £4.95. People say, "How can you sell this for such a low price?" I say, because it's total crap.

He compounded this by going on to remark that some of the earrings were "cheaper than an M&S prawn sandwich but probably wouldn't last as long"

The speech was instantly seized upon by the media, an estimated £500m was wiped from the value of the company, he was given the boot 18 months later, and in 1994 the Ratner name was expunged from the company, renamed Signet Group.

Even today, Ratner's gaffe is still famous in the British Retail industry as an example on the value of branding and image over quality. Such gaffes are now sometimes called Doing a Ratner, and Ratner himself has acquired the soubriquet "The Sultan of Bling". Ratner has said in his defence that it was a private function which he did not expect to be reported, and his remarks were not made seriously.

[edit] After Signet

He spent a period just doing family things, and then went to France as a jewellery consultant. However, he had learnt conversational French rather than business French, and his contacts told him to go home ^[2]

He came home, cycled to get his head together, then for four years he worked as a general business consultant, before setting up a health club in Henley. He sold it for £3.9m in 2001, when one of the club's members, Goldsmiths the Jewellers head Jurek Piasecki, encouraged him to go back into the jewellery trade. Subsequently Ratner set up a new, much smaller on-line jewellery business collaboration with Goldsmiths called Gerald Online.

In August 2006, press speculation has noted that Ratner is interested in acquiring the UK business of Signet Group plc — the re-named Ratner's group that now trades as H. Samuel and as Ernest Jones in the UK and has substantial interests in the US.