Sunday Times Rich List reveals Britain's richest 'kept calm and carried on making millions' in wake of Brexit vote
Brothers Sri and Gopi Hinduja have topped this year’s Sunday Times Rich List which revealed Britain has more billionaires than ever before.
Sir James Dyson came 14th on this year's Sunday Times Rich List
The wealthiest 1,000 people and families in the UK have a total combined worth of £658bn, up 14% from £575bn last year.
The brothers, aged 81 and 77, are among 134 billionaires on this year’s list with investments in oil and gas, automotive, IT, energy, media banking, property and healthcare to thank for their fortune.
Last year’s winners David and Simon Reuben fell to third place with a fortune of £14hn, second place goes to businessman Len Blavatnik, who owns Warner Music Group, with a fortune of £15.9bn.
Of those in the top 20 the Weston family - Guy, George and Galen Jr - were the only ones who lost money this year thanks to a fall in the share price of Associated British Foods, which the family has a 20.8% stake in. Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal recorded the largest increase in wealth, adding £6bn to his fortune.
Notable names on the list include entrepreneur Sir James Dyson, founder of the Dyson company, who became the first self-made Brit to break the £5bn barrier, increasing his fortune to £7.8bn. Singer Adele also cemented her position as Britain’s wealthiest ever female musician, earning £40m in the last year, to increase her fortune to £125m. Alister Usmanov, who owns 30% of Arsenal Football Club, added £4b to his £11.79bn fortune.
Of this year’s list, compiler Robert Watts, commented: “While many of us worried about the outcome of the EU referendum, many of Britain’s richest people just kept calm and carried on making millions.
“We expected to see a chilling effect in the run-up to the EU referendum, but that simply did not materialise. A buoyant stock market usually drives the wealth of rich-listers higher, and since last June equities have soared.”
Watts added that there’s more diversity in this year’s list with “more women, more people from ethnic backgrounds, and from more surprising walks of life” ranking. To appear on the rich list it takes assets of £110m, the top 20 alone (see below) are worth a total of £191.77bn.
- Sri and Gopi Hinduja (Industry, Finance) £16.2bn
- Len Blavatnik (Investment, Music, Media) £15.9bn
- David and Simon Reuben (Property, Internet) £14bn
- Lakshmi Mittal and family (Steel) £13.2bn
- Alisher Usmanov (Mining, Investment) £11.8bn
- Ernesto and Kirsty Bertarelli (Pharmaceuticals) £11.5bn
- Guy, George and Galen Jr Weston and family (Retailing) £10.5bn
- Kirsten and Jorn Rausing (Inheritance, Investment) £9.6bn
- The Duke of Westminster and the Grosvenor family (Property) £9.5bn
- Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and Michel de Carvalho (Inheritance, Brewing, Banking) £9.3bn
- Hans Rausing and family (Packaging) £9.25bn
- John Fredriksen and family (Shipping, Oil services) £8bn
- Roman Abramovich (Industry, Oil) £8bn
- Sir James Dyson and family (Household goods, Technology) £7.8bn
- Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay (Property, Media, Internet retailing) £7.2bn
- Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber and family (Hotels, Food, Industry) £6.7bn
- Earl Cadogan and family (Property) £6.5bn
- Jim Ratcliffe (Chemicals) £5.75bn
- Nicky Oppenheimer and family (Mining, Diamonds) £5.5bn
- Carrie and Francois Perrodo and family (Oil, Gas, Wine) £5.17bn