John Roberts's first job, at 14, was as a waiter at the Last Drop Hotel in Bolton. On Christmas Eve 1999 his friend Alan Latchford bet him £1 that he would never start a business selling white goods online. In 2000 Appliances Online was founded.
Roberts and Latchford bought appliances from suppliers, sold them online and ran their own delivery. In 2009 the company bought Expert Logistics, which gave customers a reliable delivery slot. In 2013 it rebranded as AO.com and in February 2014 it floated on the London Stock Exchange. Latchford left in 2006 for health reasons and died in 2020.
A German headquarters opened in 2016. Roberts stepped down as chief executive in 2017, and the company bought Mobile Phones Direct for £32.5m in 2018. He returned in January 2019. AO closed its Dutch business in November 2019 and its German business in June 2022.
In 2022 AO raised £40m and cut £30m of costs after a loss. For FY2026 it reported revenue of £1,266.6m, operating income of £49.4m and net income of £35.9m. Frasers Group holds 25.01% and Roberts 18.3%.