Peter Hargreaves, the multi-millionaire co-founder of Bristol based fund management group Hargreaves Lansdown, stepped down this week as a director with immediate effect.
Mr Hargreaves, pictured, stepped down as managing director in 2011 but remained as an executive director, effectively being the company’s figurehead as well as a major shareholder. 
He famously launched Hargreaves Lansdown with Stephen Lansdown in a Bristol bedroom in 1981. Today it is worth £2bn-plus, has a FTSE-100 listing and employs more than 650 staff in its Harbourside offices.
The firm said Mr Hargreaves would remain employed with the business but did not say in what capacity.
Hargreaves Lansdown’s shares immediately came under pressure following the announcement and dropped by nearly 5%.
The firm, a lynchpin of Bristol’s financial services sector, is traditionally a stellar performer on the London Stock Exchange.
Mr Hargreaves, whose personal wealth is said to be in the region of £900m, was awarded the CBE for services to business, innovation, financial services in last year’s New Year Honours.
He has, for many years, been an outspoken critic of Bristol’s political elite, often crossing swords publicly with local politicians over the way they run the city. He has also not shied away from national politics and earlier this year claimed Labour would bankrupt Britain.
He made an estimated £80m when Hargreaves Lansdown, which calls itself the UK’s largest direct to investor ‘investment supermarket’, floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2007. But he claims to live modestly despite admitting he is “as rich as Croesus” and in one interview said he never bets more than £5 when he goes horse racing.
In the same interview with The Guardian four years ago he said he was not rushing to retire from the business.
He was quoted as saying: “I need time to walk away [from the firm] slowly. If I suddenly left and sat at home, I would be miserable. So many wealthy people have retired, only to eat or drink themselves to death in some distant tax haven.”
In a statement to the London Stock Exchange Peter Hargreaves said: “I believe this is the right time for me to step down from the board. The group continues to perform strongly and I have every confidence in the strong management team and the well diversified board to look after my interests in the group.
“I will continue to work in the business, but will spend more time with my family and pursuing outside interests. I will, of course, remain in close touch as a major shareholder.”
Hargreaves Lansdown chairman Mike Evans added: “Peter has been instrumental to the success of the group and has personally overseen its development into a financially secure, profitable, client-focused, FTSE-100 business.
“I am sure we will continue to benefit from his experience and insight as both an employee and a major shareholder. On behalf of the board and indeed the whole group, I would like to express my gratitude to Peter for his immense contribution to the group to date.”
