[4] Other retailers owned by the company include Frasers, Flannels, USC, GAME, Evans Cycles, Jack Wills and bespoke tailors Gieves & Hawkes.

[10][11] In late November 2006, a number of business newspapers reported that Ashley was looking at an IPO of Sports World International.

[18] In 2012 Sports Direct International purchased rival retailer JJB's brand name, website, 20 stores and all of their stock in a deal for approximately £24m.

The Debenhams board responded by stating they were open-minded with regard to exploring operational opportunities to improve its performance.

[31] In October 2015, the chief executive of Sports Direct, David Forsey, was charged with a criminal offence for consultation failures over USC staff who only had 15 minutes notice of redundancy.

[34] A representative from the charity ShareAction claimed that workers are "jeopardising their health" for fear of being dismissed while another shareholder said the company's reputation as an employer was "atrocious".

[35] Late in December 2015, Sports Direct announced a 15 pence per hour increase for staff currently receiving less than minimum wage, taking them above minimum wage,[36] the annual cost of this was said in the announcement to be ~£10 Million (GBP); however it was immediately noted that £0.15p × 37.5 hours × 19,000 staff × 52 weeks = 5,557,500 (~£5.5 million), this and other factors resulted in many (including Unite) calling it a "PR Stunt".

admitted breaking the law and agreed to disburse unlawfully withheld wages totalling about £1m to the affected workers.

[39][40] As of March 2017, some Sports Direct workers were yet to receive backpay for their time worked, because of a disagreement regarding how contracts changing between employment agencies should be handled.

The Information Commissioner's Office stated it was aware of "an incident from 2016 involving Sports Direct" and would "be making enquiries.

[44] It was announced in September 2021 that Michael Murray was to be the incoming CEO of Frasers Group, taking over Ashley's role, in May 2022.

[11] In 2016, Sumitomo Rubber Industries, a global tyre, sports goods, and industrial rubber products manufacturing company based in Kobe, Japan, filed for regulatory approval before the Philippine Competition Commission in connection with its planned acquisition of Dunlop-related wholesale, manufacturing, and licensing business from Sports Direct International.

The acquisition allowed Sumitomo Rubber to consolidate the Dunlop brand across various products including sports goods worldwide.

[54] In August 2005, Sports World International took a £9 million stake and signed a lucrative long-term deal in with troubled brand Umbro,[55] which was subsequently sold to Nike.

[63] On 5 August 2019, Sports Direct International purchased Jack Wills out of administration for £12.7 million after winning a competition against Edinburgh Woollen Mill.

[64] On 24 August 2020, it was announced that Frasers Group would buy "certain" assets from DW Sports Fitness for £37m, but would not be using the firm's brand name.

[66] In December 2020, Debenhams announced it was going into liquidation, putting 12,000 jobs in 124 UK stores at risk unless the administrators could find buyers for all or parts of the business.

Frasers Group was reported to be in talks to acquire Debenhams,[67][68][69] though it was later reported that Ashley was mainly interested in using empty Debenhams stores to expand his other chains, including House of Fraser, Sports Direct and Flannels; taking 'vacant possession' would avoid redundancy costs for existing staff.

[75] On 1 June 2022, it was revealed that the group had bought the intellectual property of Missguided and its sister brand Mennace for about £20 million, after they went into administration the previous day.