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The 10 richest people in Britain

British industrial design engineer James Dyson is the UK's richest man (Getty)
British industrial design engineer James Dyson is the UK's richest man (Getty)

James Dyson has topped The Sunday Times 2020 Rich List, with his net worth of £16.2bn ($19.2bn) in a bumper year for the vacuum entrepreneur.

Dyson increased his wealth by £3.6bn since the previous list, replacing Indian-born businessmen Sri and Gopi Hinduja at the top.

Dyson recently attracted controversy when he backed Brexit, and opted to move his business headquarters to Singapore. He has also previously moved Dyson production from Wiltshire to Malaysia.

The Hindujas were knocked into joint-second place, as coronavirus-related downturns wiped a significant portion of their business value on the Indian stock market.

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Their businesses spread across oil and gas, IT, energy, media, banking, property and healthcare. The oil portion of their portfolio took a particular hit when the commodity went into negative territory earlier this year. The Sunday Times report estimates they lost £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. Still, she comes in at sixth place.

The UK is now home to 25 female billionaires, including Bet365 boss, Denise Coates, and media dynasty mogul Elisabeth Murdoch.

READ MORE: Rich List reveals UK home to more female billionaires than ever

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 interests 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.

Simon and David Reuben are involved in a deal to buy Newcastle (Getty)
Simon and David Reuben are involved in a deal to buy Newcastle (Getty)

Fourth on the list is Sir Leonard Blavatnik, who was due to launch a Netflix-style streaming service for sport in the UK this month, called Dazn. This was part of a global expansion into over 200 countries, while it is already live in nine. 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.

Mining and investment tycoon Alisher Usmanov comes in seventh in this year’s rich list. He backed Facebook early on, and has stakes in Alibaba, Airbnb, Twitter, Uber and Spotify.

Eighth is Guy George, whose family founded and built Primark. Despite the financial troubles the fashion chain has gone through since coronavirus, his net worth is up £30m, to £10.53bn.

The second richest woman, Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken, comes ninth on the list. She has a controlling stake in the world’s second-largest brewer, Heineken, and is worth £10.3bn.

Last of 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

  1. James Dyson – £16.2bn

  2. Sri and Gopi Hinduja – £16bn

  3. David and Simon Reuben – £16bn

  4. Sir Leonard Blavatnik – £15.8bn

  5. Sir Jim Ratcliffe – £12.2bn

  6. Kirsten and Jorn Rausing – £12.1bn

  7. Alisher Usmanov – £11.7bn

  8. Guy, George and Galen Jr Weston and family – £10.5bn

  9. Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and Michel de Carvalho – £10.3bn

  10. The Duke of Westminster and the Grosvenor family – £10.3bn