The Carphone Warehouse Limited was a mobile phone retailer based in London, United Kingdom. In August 2014 the company became a subsidiary of Currys plc (previously named "Dixons Carphone"), which was formed by the merger of its former parent Carphone Warehouse Group with Dixons Retail. Prior to this merger, Carphone Warehouse Group was listed on the London Stock Exchange, and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. Following the closure of all stand-alone UK stores in April 2020, all remaining Carphone Warehouse UK outlets were within branches of Currys PC World. In April 2021, the Carphone Warehouse business in Ireland (including all stand-alone and co-located branches and the website) was closed with immediate effect. Currys continued to use the Carphone Warehouse brand in the United Kingdom, online and, until 2021, inside Currys stores. History Early years The company was co-founded in 1989 by Sir Charles Dunstone and Julian Brownlie, who put £6,000 into the company from their savings. Guy Johnson of NEC UK became the third partner at the company, later taking up the role of Logistics and Distribution director. In 1990, Dunstone brought in his school friend David Ross, a chartered accountant, who became Chief Operating Officer in the same year. 1999 to 2009 In January 1999, the company bought Tandy's operations in the United Kingdom for £9 million. In July 2000, Carphone Warehouse issued an IPO. In July 2001, Johnson sold the majority of his stake and retired. Carphone Warehouse bought Opal Telecom in November 2002. In 2003, Ross started to step down from the COO role. In July 2005, he became deputy chairman. On 10 October 2006, the Carphone Warehouse announced that it would purchase the Internet access business of AOL in the United Kingdom for £370m. Also in that month, it was announced that Geek Squad would be launching in the United Kingdom, in a 50/50 joint venture between Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy. In May 2008, Best Buy agreed to buy a 50% share in Carphone Warehouse's retail business for £1.1 billion, to launch the Best Buy Europe joint venture, named CPW Europe. Best Buy and Carphone Warehouse also opened joint venture stores in the United States. Ross, by now a non-executive director, resigned from the board in December 2008. 2010 to present In 2010, the broadband and home phone business was spun off as TalkTalk. In May 2014, Carphone Warehouse Group and Dixons