Morning:
8°c
Billionaire London is home to 36 on Forbes richest list
Valentine Low, Evening Standard6 Mar 2008
London is the billionaire capital of Europe - with more of the super-rich living here than ever before.
The latest edition of the Forbes List reveals that a total of 49 of the wealthiest people on the planet have chosen to make Britain their home - most of them in London.
They include Lakshmi Mittal, whose $45 billion fortune (£22.6 billion) makes him the fourth richest person in the world, just behind Bill Gates.
Gates lost his place at the top of the list to the American investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett, whose wealth has hit $62 billion (£31 billion). Buffett, 77, his friend and bridge partner, still lives in the house he bought for about £15,000 when he was 28.
Gates also lost out on second place to Mexican telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim Helu ($60 billion or £30 billion).
A total of 35 British citizens are dollar billionaires. But because of the foreign billionaires who have moved here, the UK is home to 49, with 36 calling themselves Londoners.
The Duke of Westminster, Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, is the richest Briton, coming in 46th place with $14 billion (£7 billion) after making his money through property and inheritance.
Other notable Britons include Topshop entrepreneur Philip Green and his wife Cristina in 107th place with £4.2 billion and Virgin boss Richard Branson in 236th place with £2.2 billion.
Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone and supermarket owner David Sainsbury are also represented, with £1.9 billion and £1.7 billion respectively.
Harry Potter author JK Rowling is Britain's only woman on the list, comingin 1,062nd with $1 billion (£504 million). Rupert Murdoch comes 109th in the list with his media empire making him a personal fortune of £4.2 billion and fellow media owner Richard Desmond comes in 605th with a wealth of £1billion.
Billionaires who have made Britain their home include Hans Rausing, the 82-year-old head of the Tetrapak empire, who is 77th on the list with $5 billion. Others include Leonard Blavatnik, the Russian-born oil and gas magnate, John Fredriksen, the Cypriot oil tanker tycoon, and Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken of the Dutch brewing family.
The property developers David and Simon Reuben are 178th with £2.8 billion. David lives in London while Simon lives in Monaco.
The one person missing from the London list is Roman Abramovich, the 15th wealthiest person in the world with £11.8 billion.
Despite having a home in Belgravia and owning Chelsea football club, he is not listed by Forbes magazine as resident in London.
The 1,125 people on the list have a combined net worth of £2.2 trillion with two-thirds classified as self-made.
A record 50 people are under the age of 40, including the world's youngest billionaire, 23-year-old Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who ranked 785 with £756 million.
Reader views (4)
Why London, Why dont any Billionaires live in Manchester ?
- Sam, Manchester, 12/08/2009 13:09
Report abuse
Worrying times for them all to stay in the lead!
- Steve Evans, Malta, 06/03/2008 22:21
Report abuse
There are two listed as resident in Scotland as well as the 49 in the UK.
- Peter, Battersea, 06/03/2008 16:13
Report abuse
How many of them are non-doms?
Let's see this time next year how many of them are still around uh?
- Bill, Wales, 06/03/2008 14:26
Report abuse
