Crazy John's

Mobileworld Operating Pty Ltd trading as Crazy John's

You always get more with Crazy John's
Type	Subsidiary of VHA
Industry	Telecommunications
Fate	Integrated into Vodafone brand.
Founded	1991
Founder	John Ilhan
Headquarters	Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Area served	Australia
Products	Mobile
Number of employees	400 full-time
Website	www.crazyjohns.com.au

Crazy John's was a mobile phone retail chain in Australia started by Turkish Australian businessman John Ilhan. Crazy John's was the largest independent phone retailer in Australia, employing more than 400 people with more than 60 retail stores. Following his death in 2007, Ilhan's wife Patricia sold her stake in the company to Vodafone Australia, now a part of Vodafone Hutchison Australia. Originally a dealer of Telstra Mobile, Crazy John's became a Mobile Virtual Network Operator through the Vodafone Australia network, dealing directly with customers and offering its own competitive mobile phone deals and plans.

Crazy John's opened its first store in Brunswick, Victoria, in 1991. By 1998, there were fifteen store locations in Victoria, and the retailer was ranked in the top ten of Telstra's mobile dealers. As of January 2013^[update] they had 61 stores.

The name Crazy John's came about through people constantly telling Ilhan his marketing ideas were "crazy", and the name stuck. Crazy John's came to prominence when it was the first company in Australia to offer $1 mobile phones.

Following the death of the company's founder John Ilhan in 2007, his wife sold her 75% share of the company to Vodafone in September 2008. Approximately 200 staff became redundant.

In January 2013 Vodafone announced that it was to close up to 40 of their Crazy John's branded stores by 20 February as part of their cost-cutting restructuring, Vodafone's parent company Hutchison Telecoms Australia having had a A$131.3 million loss for the six months to 30 June 2012. The remaining 21 Crazy John's premises are to be re-branded as Vodafone Australia stores.