S tephen Lansdown is a self-made British billionaire and the co-founder of the financial services firm Hargreaves Lansdown. An accountant by training, he started the company in 1981 with his partner, Peter Hargreaves, working from a spare bedroom in Bristol. They built the company into one of the largest and most successful retail investment platforms in the United Kingdom, providing direct-to-consumer services for stockbroking, investment funds, and retirement accounts.

Hargreaves Lansdown's focus on empowering individual investors with information and low-cost access to the markets made it a dominant force in the UK's financial services industry. The company's highly successful IPO on the London Stock Exchange in 2007 turned both founders into billionaires. Lansdown retired from the firm in 2012 to focus on his other interests. He is the majority owner of Bristol Sport, a company that owns the city's professional football club (Bristol City F.C.) and rugby club (Bristol Bears). He now resides in the tax haven of Guernsey.