We may be in a longer recession than the 1930s Great Depression (see: link) but it hasn’t prevented the richest people in Britain increase their net wealth. The richest 1000 men and women have a combined wealth of £414bn, up 4.7% on the previous year.
Richest People in the World 2012
1. The Walton Family (US) | Retail (Walmart) | £51bn |
2. Carlos Slim (Mexico) | Telecoms | £44bn |
3. Bill Gates (US) | Microsoft | £39bn |
4. Charles and David Kock (US) | Oil | £32bn |
5. Warren Buffet (US) | Investment | £28bn |
5. K Berthold and Theo Albrecht (Germany | Supermarkets (Aldi) | £28bn |
7. Forrest and John Mars (US) | Confectionary (Mars) | £26bn |
7. Bernard Arnault (France) | Luxury Goods | £26bn |
9. Ingvar Kamprad (Sweden) | Ikea (retail) | £25bn |
10. Amancio Ortega (Spain) | Zara (fashion) | £24bn |
The richest 20 people have a wealth of £288.5bn – more than triple the wealth of 2003, when the richest 20 people’s combined wealth was £102bn. The credit crunch temporarily reduced wealth. In 2008, it was £280bn, falling to £167bn in 2009. But now their wealth has climbed above the 2008 peak.
Richest People in Britain
1. Lakshmi Mittal and family | Steel | £12.7bn |
2. Alisher Usmanov | Mining and investment | £12.32bn |
3. Roman Abramovich | Oil and industry | £9.5bn |
4, Sri And Gopi Hinduja | Industry and finance | £8.6 bn |
5. Leonard Blavatnik | Industry (Russian oil) | £7.58 bn |
6. Ernesto and Kirsty Bertarelli | Pharmaceuticals | £7.48bn |
7. The Duke of Westminster | Property | £7.3 bn |
8. David and Simon Reuben | Property and investment | £7.08bn |
9. John Fredriksen and Family | Shipping and oil services | £6.6 bn |
10. Galen and George Weston and Family | Retailing | £5.9 |
Selected Others
16. Richard Brandson – (Virgin, Northern Rock, £3.4bn)
23. Bernie Eccleston (motor racing) £2.5bn
54. Mohamed al-Fayed – £1.3bn
73. Nat Rothschild – £1.0bn
92. Lord Sugar – £800m
148. J.K.Rowling – £560m
262 The Queen – £310m
395. David and Victoria Beckham – £190m
Of the Sunday Times 1000 rich list the biggest are
- 192 property
- 185 finance
- 129 industry
- 84 film, media and sport
- 73 in retailing
- (3 lottery winners!)
Sources: The Sunday Times rich list. Forbes Rich list. Richest people 2010
That there are almost three times as many uber-rich in Britain listed as bankers and property speculators than as industrial leaders, is indicative of one of the fundamental problems with the British economy: For far too long the focus has been on gathering wealth through speculation rather than through the advancement of industry.
I wonder how many of the 129 rich “Brits” listed under “industry” are actually foreign non-doms like Mittal, Usmanov, Abramovich, Hindujas & Blavatnik (all of the top 5) living off the proceeds of their non-British industries?