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Covid-19 wipes billions off super-rich; Hindujas lose top spot
The wealth of the Hinduja brothers is estimated to have dropped by £6 billion in the estimates up to the end of April, which includes the early stages of the pandemic.
The Hinduja brothers lost the top spot in the Sunday Times Rich List as the coronavirus pandemic wiped billions from the wealth of 1,000 super-rich in the United Kingdom, organisers of the list announced on Sunday.
The wealth of the Hinduja brothers is estimated to have dropped by £6 billion in the estimates up to the end of April, which includes the early stages of the pandemic. The list is headed by entrepreneur James Dyson, who made his fortune by inventing bag-less vacuum cleaners.
Dyson and family are estimated to be worth £16.2 billion, while Sri and Gopi Hinduja and family are worth £16 billion.
List compiler Robert Watts said: “Ever since the financial crisis of 2008-9, Britain’s wealthiest people have become richer and richer. Covid-19 has called time on their golden period. This year’s rich list paints a picture of Britain on the brink of calamity - two months after lockdown and already billions of pounds have been wiped out”.
“You may not like the super-rich, but it is hard to deny that our economy will need the jobs they create and the taxes they and their companies pay if we are to escape a prolonged recession that causes further misery to millions.”
The top ten in the list are: David and Simon Reuben (£16 billion), Leonard Blavatnik (£15.78 billion), Jim Ratcliffe (£12.15 billion), Kirsten and Jorn Rausing (£12.1 billion), Alisher Usmanov (£11.68 billion), Guy, George and Galen Jr Weston and family (£10.53 billion), Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and Michel de Carvalho (£10.3 billion), the Duke of Westminster and the Grosvenor family (£10.29 billion).
Queen Elizabeth is ranked at 372 with an estimated worth of £350 million.
The list organisers said: “We have adjusted valuations of the richest 1,000 where there have been significant movements in the share prices of quoted companies, estimating the knock-on effect on the fortunes of owners of large stakes in those companies”.
“We measure identifiable wealth, whether land, property, racehorses, art or significant shares in publicly quoted companies. We exclude bank accounts to which we have no access and small shareholdings in a private equity”.
