According to The Sunday Times 2020 Rich List, James Dyson has topped the chart, with his net worth of £16.2bn ($19.2bn) in a bountiful year for the vacuum entrepreneur.
Dyson wealth went up by £3.6bn since the previous list, surpassing Indian-born businessmen Sri and Gopi Hinduja at the top position.
Dyson decision to support the Brexit and transfer his business headquarters to Singapore recently attracted substantial controversy. He has also previously moved Dyson production from Wiltshire to Malaysia.
The Hindujas were dropped into joint-second place, as coronavirus-related downturns wiped a significant portion of their business value on the Indian stock market.
Their businesses that cut across oil and gas, IT, energy, media, banking, property and healthcare. The oil portion of their portfolio took a particular downturn when the product went into negative territory earlier this year. According to Sunday Times report they lost an estimated £6bn over the last year.
TetraPak heiress Kirsten Rausing is the woman with the highest net worth on the list, with a reported fortune of £12.1bn. However, she comes in at sixth place.
The UK now houses 25 female billionaires, including Bet365 boss, Denise Coates, and media dynasty mogul Elisabeth Murdoch.
David and Simon Reuben also clinch joint-second place on the list, with a worth of £16bn gleaned through metal trading. The also have heavy investments in the London property market.
The pair are due to take a stake in Premier League football club Newcastle United, their first venture into football.
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Coming in fourth place on the list is Sir Leonard Blavatnik, who was due to launch a Netflix-style streaming service for sport this month, called Dazn. Historically he has been heavily involved in oil and petrochemicals.
The business of sport is something of a theme at the top of this year’s list, as chemicals mogul Sir Jim Ratcliffe signed a five-year sponsorship deal with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One team.
He sits fifth in the list, worth £12.15bn. This is down £6bn from last year as his chemical company recently sought emergency loans from the British government.
Seventh in this year’s rich list is Mining and investment tycoon Alisher Usmanov. He backed Facebook early on, and has stakes in Alibaba, Airbnb, Twitter, Uber and Spotify.
Guy George is eighth on the list, whose family founded and built Primark. Despite the financial challenges, the fashion chain is going through since coronavirus, his net worth is up £30m, to £10.53bn.
Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken is Britain’s second richest woman. She comes ninth on the list. She has a controlling stake in the world’s second-largest brewer, Heineken, and is worth £10.3bn.
Coming in last place on the top ten is the Duke of Westminster and the Grosvenor family. With no prizes for guessing where his wealth comes from, aristocrat Hugh Grosvenor is the UK’s youngest billionaire, with a worth of £10.295bn.
Top Ten
- James Dyson – £16.2bn
- Sri and Gopi Hinduja – £16bn
- David and Simon Reuben – £16bn
- Sir Leonard Blavatnik – £15.8bn
- Sir Jim Ratcliffe – £12.2bn
- Kirsten and Jorn Rausing – £12.1bn
- Alisher Usmanov – £11.7bn
- Guy, George and Galen Jr Weston and family – £10.5bn
- Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and Michel de Carvalho – £10.3bn
- The Duke of Westminster and the Grosvenor family – £10.3bn
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