Smith sold the company to Woolworths in 1982 for $22 million. In 1999 he founded Dick Smith Foods as a crusade against foreign ownership of food producers in Australia. He published the book The Earth Beneath Me in 1983 and then founded the magazine Australian Geographic in 1986. He completed the first solo helicopter flight around the world from 1982 to 1983 and is known for his adventures. In 2015 he registered The Dick Smith Party as a political party but announced he would not be running as a candidate.