davieG Posted 26 April 2015 Posted 26 April 2015 Warner Music owner Len Blavatnik is Britain's richest man with a £13.17bn fortune, according to The 2015 Sunday Times Rich List. He takes the top spot from brothers Sri and Gopi Hinduja, now worth £13bn. The total wealth of the richest 1,000 individuals and families in Britain has more than doubled in the last 10 years to £547bn, the survey reported. The Queen, who topped the first list in 1989, has dropped out of the top 300 for the first time. There are now 117 billionaires on the list, up from 104 in 2014, with 80 of them living in London. Mr Blavatnik, whose investments range from metals and oil to music publishing and digital media, has a £41m home in London and has donated £75m to Oxford University to found the Blavatnik School of Government. More billionaires The highest risers in terms of wealth are the retail family headed by Galen and George Weston, who run Selfridges and Primark in the UK. Their fortune has grown by £3.7bn - more than 50% in a year - to £11bn. Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich comes in at number 10 on the list with a fortune of £7.29bn, down £1.23bn on last year, while Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson has seen his wealth rise from £3.6bn to £4.1bn, making him 20th richest in Britain. A personal fortune of £100m is now required to become one of the 1,000 richest people in the country, up £15m compared with last year's entry point of £85m. In 1997 it took a fortune of just £15m to join Britain's richest 1,000 people. Ukrainian-born Len Blavatnik, owner of Warner Music Group, has topped the Sunday Times Rich List with a £13.17bn fortune. Jumping from fourth last year, Mr Blavatnik is now estimated to be the richest person in the UK – despite being an American citizen. The 57-year-old edged out last year’s top dogs, Sri and Gopi Hinduja, owners of the Hinduja Group, who have £13bn. Mr Blavatnik’s investments have included stakes in Spotify and headphone-maker Beats Electronics, and in 2011 he bought Warner for $3.3bn in cash. A keen art collector, he is said to have splashed out £9m last year in an auction for Damien Hirst's gold-plated woolly mammoth. Roman Abramovich has reportedly seen £1.23bn wiped off his fortune His philanthropic efforts include a £75m donation to Oxford University to establish a school of government in his name. The men behind Primark and Selfridges also had an extremely lucrative year. Galen and George Weston and family saw their wealth soar by £3.7bn to £11bn, making them Britain’s third richest. Elsewhere on the list, Arsenal co-owner Alisher Usmanov placed fourth with £9.8m. Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich however, reportedly had a disappointing year, with the Sunday Times claiming £1.23bn has been wiped off his fortune – which now stands at £7.29bn. Still smiling with £4.1bn - Sir Richard Branson is 20th on the list The annual list is an estimate of wealth including land, property, assets or significant shares, but excludes bank accounts. Virgin Group founder Richard Branson is one of a few British-born billionaires in the top 25, with an estimated £4.1bn fortune. Sports Direct and Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley comes joint 22nd with £3.5bn, tied with both Top Shop owner Sir Philip Green and vacuum inventor Sir James Dyson. The collective wealth of the UK’s richest 1,000 has more than doubled over the last 10 years, according to the list. They now have a combined fortune of nearly £550bn. In 2005 that figure was just £249bn. Ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney is the richest musician, with £730m To even make it into this year’s top 1000 requires £100m, ruling out most music and sport stars. One notable exception is ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney who is estimated to have £730m, making him the country’s richest musician. The Sunday Times Rich List Top 10 1. Len Blavatnik - £13.17bn 2. Sri and Gopi Hinduja - £13bn 3. Galen and George Weston and family - £11bn 4. Alisher Usmanov - £9.8bn 5. David and Simon Reuben - £9.7bn 6. Ernesto and Kirsty Bertarelli - £9.45bn 7. Lakshmi Mittal and family - £9.2bn 8. Kirsten and Jorn Rausing - £8.7bn 9. The Duke of Westminster - £8.56bn 10. Roman Abramovich - £7.29bn
StanSP Posted 26 April 2015 Posted 26 April 2015 Imagine going to the cash machine and the little screen not being big enough to display your balance lol
ScouseFox Posted 26 April 2015 Posted 26 April 2015 always wondered how much money the queen has and what she does with it. like what does she buy? surely the queen could live the high life and literally never spend any money on anything? just can't imagine her in the aldi or online shopping on asos with her visa debit card
johnny the fox Posted 26 April 2015 Posted 26 April 2015 Bitterly disappointed I just missed out again.. I think the list is fixed...IM sure I have more postal orders than them losers..
ScouseFox Posted 26 April 2015 Posted 26 April 2015 Also the queen isn't a man so how is she on the richest men in britain list?
bovril Posted 26 April 2015 Posted 26 April 2015 Also the queen isn't a man so how is she on the richest men in britain list? She's a lizard Scouseh.
MooseBreath Posted 26 April 2015 Posted 26 April 2015 It's a very sexist thread title. Also everyone on the list is evil. They've all done horrible, horrible things to make that money and none of them deserve any of it. We should take it off them and give it all to down n out.
Stadt Posted 26 April 2015 Posted 26 April 2015 It's a very sexist thread title. Also everyone on the list is evil. They've all done horrible, horrible things to make that money and none of them deserve any of it. We should take it off them and give it all to down n out. There's people using food banks out there
Carl the Llama Posted 26 April 2015 Posted 26 April 2015 It's a very sexist thread title. Also everyone on the list is evil. They've all done horrible, horrible things to make that money and none of them deserve any of it. We should take it off them and give it all to down n out. Obviously not, but you must be insane if you think it's right that they are able to have so much more than their fellow humans. Do you think an image-obsessed anorexic with a desirable bone-structure being paid thousands to walk up and down a piece of plywood clad in silks and diamonds to the entertainment of similarly vapid beings represents fair return on work put in? I admire all people who put in the graft to follow their convictions whatever they may be, but you have to acknowledge that they do not make up the whole part of the equation, or even the majority of it as far as I can make out.
Rincewind Posted 26 April 2015 Posted 26 April 2015 No. 12 Moosebreath a very nice and generous man. My best friend and benefactor.
MooseBreath Posted 26 April 2015 Posted 26 April 2015 Do you think an image-obsessed anorexic with a desirable bone-structure being paid thousands to walk up and down a piece of plywood clad in silks and diamonds to the entertainment of similarly vapid beings represents fair return on work put in? . I wouldn't personally spend my money on that kind of entertainment but if other people value it and want to spend their money on it then that's up to them. What business is it of you or I to tell people what they should and shouldn't value?
Carl the Llama Posted 26 April 2015 Posted 26 April 2015 I wouldn't personally spend my money on that kind of entertainment but if other people value it and want to spend their money on it then that's up to them. What business is it of you or I to tell people what they should and shouldn't value? I was merely addressing your implication that people with wealth must de facto be hard working paragons by providing a counter-example where, as you rightly say, the income level is based on people's perceived value - as opposed to the effort put in..
sphericalfox Posted 26 April 2015 Posted 26 April 2015 Also the queen isn't a man so how is she on the richest men in britain list? She's both. Philip is merely her babbling racist eunuch butler, and her children were sired actually by her own self.
Benguin Posted 26 April 2015 Posted 26 April 2015 Makes me sick that one man has to beg on the streets for hours to get a bit of food and some smack to give him any form of satisfaction in his deeply depressing life and then another man could afford to pay for lunch for the entire population of the world. That's capitalism.
SMX11 Posted 27 April 2015 Posted 27 April 2015 Makes me sick that one man has to beg on the streets for hours to get a bit of food and some smack to give him any form of satisfaction in his deeply depressing life and then another man could afford to pay for lunch for the entire population of the world. That's capitalism. And yet I would have it no other way. Except a return to free markets, but that is another discussion for another thread.
Jon the Hat Posted 27 April 2015 Posted 27 April 2015 Incredible how much of that wealth is earned rather than inherited. Amazing businesses these men have built. It would be interesting to see alongside it how many people they employ and how much tax they and their business pay.
Rincewind Posted 27 April 2015 Posted 27 April 2015 I have nothing against someone who has built a business up and reaps the reward by becoming wealthy. It is aristocracy and hangers on that I have a problem with. Silver spoon fed from birth private school then inherit a sleeping directorship where they may turn up 2 or 3 times a year for a shareholders meeting. There are also those that make a balls up costing millions and jobs and walk resign, given a golden handshake, then given another directorship. If that was someone on a low to middle salary they would be sacked and would find it difficult to find another company to trust them. Having 'sacked for incompetence leading to a 20k loss for the company' in answe to 'why did you leave your last job' would not look good on a CV or application form.
Guest MattP Posted 27 April 2015 Posted 27 April 2015 I have nothing against someone who has built a business up and reaps the reward by becoming wealthy. It is aristocracy and hangers on that I have a problem with. Silver spoon fed from birth private school then inherit a sleeping directorship where they may turn up 2 or 3 times a year for a shareholders meeting. There are also those that make a balls up costing millions and jobs and walk resign, given a golden handshake, then given another directorship. If that was someone on a low to middle salary they would be sacked and would find it difficult to find another company to trust them. Having 'sacked for incompetence leading to a 20k loss for the company' in answe to 'why did you leave your last job' would not look good on a CV or application form. Who are these people? I only know a handful of directors but they all work damn hard and certainly not people who 'turn up 2 or 3 times a year to a meeting' - You don't just be born into a rich family and then appear on the board of directors at a big company, I've known people who have been devastated that their children simply haven't got the nouse or intelligence to run the business they have built after they go. Have you spent time in boardrooms Ken?
Jimothy Posted 27 April 2015 Posted 27 April 2015 Who are these people? I only know a handful of directors but they all work damn hard and certainly not people who 'turn up 2 or 3 times a year to a meeting' - You don't just be born into a rich family and then appear on the board of directors at a big company, I've known people who have been devastated that their children simply haven't got the nouse or intelligence to run the business they have built after they go. Have you spent time in boardrooms Ken? He's probably spent a lot of time in bored rooms.
Rincewind Posted 27 April 2015 Posted 27 April 2015 Head of banks who made bad investments come to mind? I am sure others can think of some.
Guest MattP Posted 27 April 2015 Posted 27 April 2015 Head of banks who made bad investments come to mind? I am sure others can think of some. I doubt the heads of the bank will be making the investments.
purpleronnie Posted 27 April 2015 Posted 27 April 2015 Who are these people? I only know a handful of directors but they all work damn hard and certainly not people who 'turn up 2 or 3 times a year to a meeting' - You don't just be born into a rich family and then appear on the board of directors at a big company, I've known people who have been devastated that their children simply haven't got the nouse or intelligence to run the business they have built after they go. Have you spent time in boardrooms Ken? My experience is it's a bit of both Matt. Just like most of these things there isn't a clear 'type'. Plus the board of directors is quite an abiguous term and can often have positions that aren't that high up in the company, although this can differ from country to country in my experience. Directors can be on the lower reem of executives, people discount Presidents or CEO of companies who the directors adhere to. My experience with them is more limited but I would (generalizing here) say that's where the silver spoon often gets placed. Most directors I know have worked themselves up the ladder leaning the skills and gaining the experience to do the job, not only that but often they will serve on other boards for charitable causes. But the people Ken refers to do exist and most would rightly be judgemental about them, but it is just a part of life and would be in my opinion impossible to regulate against.
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.