#1 AO CEO John Roberts: Taking the Tough Decisions

#1 AO首席执行官约翰·罗伯茨:做出艰难的决定

Business Matters

2025-09-24

37 分钟
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AO Chief Executive and Founder, John Roberts is celebrating 25 years at the helm of of one of the UK's biggest electrical retailers - he speaks to Sean Farrington in the first episode of Big Boss Interview. John says he believes the UK is entering a recession and calls on the Government to do more to allow businesses like his aid growth. Instead he feels the Employment Right Bill - which is currently making its way through Parliament - will make business leaders think twice about recruiting. He also outlines why competition from Chinese firms or Amazon is good for business. Meanwhile, with the budget on the horizon, John warns of the dangers of stealing Murray Mints from pensioners and outlines his lack of sympathy for supermarket chains. Timecodes: 00:00 Intro 02:20 Start of interview with John Roberts 06:40 The current economic climate 10:00 Impact of the Employment Rights Bill on businesses 15:00 How hard it is to be competitive today and the impact of Chinese business 19:30 Competing with Amazon 22:30 Relationship with Mike Ashley 26:50 Prospects for school leavers today 30:00 Increases to the state pension 32:00 Raising taxes on the wealthy 36:00 Sean and Will discuss the interview
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  • VVT Sounds Music Radio Podcasts Hello, what an exciting day today for us.

  • You're listening to the first episode of our new podcast,

  • the Big Boss interview brought to you by us, the BBC business team here in Salford.

  • I'm Will Bayne and each week you'll hear myself,

  • Felicity Hanna or Sean Farrington speaking in depth to one of the UK's biggest business leaders and it's our big launch day today.

  • So, Sean, our captain is in charge of it all.

  • No pressure, Sean, to kick it off then.

  • Fortunately, we're already done.

  • So the pressure of the actual interview off just the pressure of the reviews from the listeners from our bosses ourselves about what we're doing.

  • And it is exciting, isn't it?

  • Because we are able to tell everybody a little bit more about the insights we get from some of those bosses of the biggest businesses.

  • Not necessarily the biggest,

  • most influential businesses could be the most influential brands that impact us in so many ways with the careers that we have or the decisions we're making on a weekly basis of what to buy.

  • and for episode one.

  • a great choice, really,

  • a company that I think will touch a whole load of people's lives right across the country.

  • AO.com really came in to kind of shake up the way we buy, well,

  • to start with fridges and freezers, but then any kind of electrical items online, right, as well.

  • And so you've been speaking to John Roberts, who's the boss there,

  • but not just the boss, the founder of the company as well.