5 of the UK’s Richest Business Owners
With the media and government forever telling us we are on the brink or in the middle of the worst worldwide financial recession in history, it seems somewhat bizarre that the 1,000 wealthiest people in the UK are now worth a whooping £395.8 billion combined.
In case you’re not familiar with your economics, that’s more than a third of the national debt.
With the combined wealth of Britain’s richest 1,000 rising 18% in the past year alone, the rich are certainly getting richer.
Yet who are the five richest business owners in the UK and how did they get to the top of the pile?
In case you’re not familiar with your economics, that’s more than a third of the national debt.
With the combined wealth of Britain’s richest 1,000 rising 18% in the past year alone, the rich are certainly getting richer.
Yet who are the five richest business owners in the UK and how did they get to the top of the pile?
Lakshmi Mittal (£17.51 billion)
Although he remains firmly rooted at top spot in the Sunday Times Rich List, the steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal lost nearly £5 billion of his personal fortune due to falling stock markets in 2010 which dramatically affected the share price of his business AcelorMittal.
Yet such is his wealth he remains the richest man in the UK. The Indian born billionaire made his money in steel but he also owns a 20% stake in Queens Park Rangers football club.
Mr Mittal bought Bernie Ecclestone’s West London house for a mere £57m and offered to stump up most of the £22m cost for a 377-ft twisting tower in time for the 2012 Olympic Games.
Alisher Usmanov (£12.4 billion)
Once again steel and football combine to form a multi-billionaire in the shape of Russian tycoon Alisher Usmanov. The keen soccer fan holds a 27% stake, worth around 198m in Arsenal football club, which he apparently loves “like a man loves a woman.”
The 57-year-old made his fortune through steel and iron ore mines before diversifying into timber, telecoms, and finally the internet. He currently owns a large stake in iron and steel giants Metalloinvest and showed his generous side by giving £78m to charity in the last year alone.
Roman Abramovich (£10.3 billion)
Abramovich found fame when he bought the Chelsea football club, but his story is very much a rags to riches saga. The Russian oil tycoon was brought up by his uncle in a bleak industrial town south of the Artic Circle. He eventually joined forces with notorious Russian oligarch Boris Beresovsky and founded an oil firm called Sibneft, which later merged with Yukos Oil to become Russia’s biggest oil producer. Yukos was later sold to Gazprom.
Abramovich retains stakes in Russian steel group Evraz and mining group Highland Gold, which no doubt gives him something to talk about with next door neighbour Sir Mick Jagger, or when he’s relaxing on his £300m yacht, the 536 foot Eclipse, which is said to be the world’s largest sail boat.
The Duke Of Westminister (£7 billion)
The highest born billionaire in the top five makes his billions through property. His giant Grosvenor property group is the richest property developer in Britain and one of the largest landowners in the country. It has also weathered the economic storms of the last few years and has performed rather royally you might say.
Ernesto Bertarelli (£6.87 billion)
Renaissance man Ernesto Bertarelli gained an MBA from Harvard, and at only 31 years of age became CEO of the the Bertarelli pharmaceutical company Sereno after his father’s death.
In 2007 he sold the company to Germany’s Merck KGaA and he retains current business interests in Kedge Capital, an investment management group, and Ares Life Sciences.
A keen yachtsman and founder of the Alinghi team, Bertarelli won the prestigious America’s cup in 2003 and 2007.
This article was written by a leading provider of Payroll Software in the UK.
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