James Dyson
1947–present · Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England
The inventor of the dual cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner, who hand built 5,127 prototypes before one worked and then grew Dyson into a global engineering company that he and his family still own outright.
Prototypes 5,127, hand built, one or two a day
First working Dual Cyclone 2 May 1992, his 45th birthday
Ownership 100 percent Dyson family, no outside shareholders
Dyson revenue, 2025 6.13 billion pounds, EBITDA 1.11 billion, up 18 percent
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