Report: Gerald Ratner May Buy Signet’s U.K. Division

By Rob Bates | June 02, 2025

This story has been updated with comment from Signet.

Gerald Ratner—who famously left his family jewelry company (which later became Signet) after publicly disparaging its products—is in negotiations to buy Signet’s U.K. chains, H. Samuel and Ernest Jones, according to a report in the Daily Mail.

Ratner, 75, is being backed “by investors including British banks, [and] wants to be chairman if a deal succeeds,” the newspaper reported. “A price for the business has yet to be agreed and there is no guarantee a deal will be done, sources added.”

Ratner declined comment to JCK, though he did post the story on his LinkedIn, adding, “Everything that goes around, comes around.”

In a comment received after this article was posted, Signet seemed to pour cold water on the story.

“We are not engaged in discussions related to a sale of our U.K. brands,” said a company spokesperson. “Our Ernest Jones and H. Samuel businesses are performing well and focused on serving all our loyal customers.”

This would not be the first time Ratner expressed interest in buying back his old business. In 2007, he told an audience that he had bid 350 million pounds for Signet’s U.K. division, but the bid was rejected.

Ratner’s first departure from the jewelry world—which he has frequently recounted in the media and on the motivational speaking circuit, often with surprisingly good cheer—is the stuff of a business legend.

In 1987, Ratner had grown his family jewelry company to such a size that he bought both U.K. chain Ernest Jones and Sterling Jewelers in the United States, which then numbered only 117 stores.

But in 1991, Ratner made history (and headlines) when he joked about his company’s products during about at a speech for the Institute of Directors at the Royal Albert Hall.

“We do this nice sherry decanter that’s cut glass,” he said. “And it really only costs 4 pounds, 95 pence. People say to me, ‘How could you sell this for such a low price?’ I say because, ‘It’s total crap.’…

“We even sell a pair of earrings for under a pound, gold earrings as well. And some people say, ‘That’s cheaper than a prawn sandwich from Marks & Spencer. But I have to say the sandwich would probably last longer than the earrings.”

His remarks drew laughter and applause in the room, but the press was not so generous, with U.K. tabloids blasting him for insulting his own customers.

“It was slanted in such a ridiculously nasty way,” he later told the BBC. “I made one joke about a sherry decanter.… It was terribly bad judgement on my part. It totally backfired.…

“It’s the most horrendous feeling. It’s like knives being stabbed into your stomach. This whole business that I built up so successfully, it was my baby, I was so proud of it, I was dragged through the gutter. Everyone believed that everything we sold was crap.… I thought, ‘How the hell did something as stupid as a joke like this ruin everything?’”

Although he apologized, sales fell, and he ultimately left the company, falling into a state of depression that lasted seven years. Ratners Group ultimately changed its name to Signet, and Ratners Jewelers became H. Samuel.

Since then, Ratner has been involved in a variety of business ventures, including a successful chain of health clubs. He started an online jewelry business, Gerald Online, in 2003, which has since closed.

In 2023, Signet sold 19 Ernest Jones stores to Watches of Switzerland.

Photo courtesy of Gerald Ratner