Russian tycoon Usmanov tops Sunday Times Rich List
Alisher Usmanov started his business empire with the manufacture of plastic bags
Russian
businessman Alisher Usmanov has topped the Sunday Times ranking of the
wealthiest people in Britain and Ireland with a fortune of £13.3bn.
The Surrey-based tycoon, 59, who has a 30% stake in Arsenal football club, owns iron ore producer Metalloinvest.Warner Music's Len Blavatnik comes next in the 25th annual list with £11bn but steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal's £10bn sees him drop from first to fourth.
The 1,000 richest people in Britain and Ireland share a wealth of £450bn.
The highest British-born person in the list is the Duke of Westminster in eighth place with £7.8bn from property. He is the only person to make the top 10 of the list in each of its 25 years.
Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin brand, is in 19th place with £3.5bn and Chelsea FC's Russian owner Roman Abramovich, who made his fortune in the oil industry, is down two places to fifth with £9.3bn.
In third place are Sri and Gopi Hinduja, of the London-based global conglomerate Hinduja Group, with £10.6bn.
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Analysis
On 2 April 1989, when the first Rich List was published, the Sunday Times was covered with Margaret Thatcher.
The front page stories were about the prime minister visiting Namibia and there was an article by Jeff Randall saying she had called a crisis meeting to discuss the controversy about the takeover of Harrods.
The top story, announcing the Rich List, declared that "Britain is still dominated by 'old' money despite nearly 10 years of Thatcherism".
Twenty-five years on, the list that was dominated by inherited wealth and aristocracy is now full of cash earned from commodities overseas, such as steel and oil. Russian-born businessmen make up three of the top five places.
New money has replaced old, but not much of it has been earned in Britain.
Former Miss UK Kirsty Bertarelli
shares her £7.4bn pharmaceuticals fortune with husband Ernesto, the same
amount as last year, but they have slipped three places down the list.
There are a record 88 billionaires in the list - compared to
77 last year and just nine when the rich list started in 1989, and the
Queen was placed top.Her then wealth of £5.2bn included the Crown Estates and the royal art collection but since 1993 the Queen has been valued only on personal worth for the purposes of the list.
The combined wealth of the top 200 people in list is £318.2bn which is more than eight times the figure 25 years ago.
Mr Usmanov started his business empire with the manufacture of plastic bags.
His interests now include Russia's biggest iron ore producer Metalloinvest, a stake in internet business mail.ru and a holding in mobile phone operator MegaFon which became listed on both the London and Moscow stock exchanges last year.
Mr Usmanov owns Sutton Place in Surrey, the former home of the late oil baron J Paul Getty, as well as a £48m mansion in north London.
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Source: Sunday Times Rich List (last year's positions in brackets)Rich List top 10
- 1. (2) Alisher Usmanov (mining and investment) £13.3bn
- 2. (5) Len Blavatnik (investment, music and media) £11bn
- 3. (4) Sri and Gopi Hinduja (industry and finance) £10.6bn
- 4. (1) Lakshmi Mittal and family (steel) £10bn
- 5. (3) Roman Abramovich (oil and industry) £9.3bn
- 6. (9) John Fredriksen and family (shipping and oil services) £8.8bn
- 7. (8) David and Simon Reuben (property and internet) £8.2bn
- 8. (7) The Duke of Westminster (property) £7.8bn
- 9. (6) Ernesto and Kirsty Bertarelli (pharmaceuticals) £7.4bn
- 10. (11) Charlene and Michel de Carvalho (inheritance, brewing and banking) £7bn
Mr Blavatnik saw the biggest rise in wealth among those listed with an increase of £3.4bn over the past year.
The Russia-born media mogul, who now holds US citizenship,
sold his stake in Russian oil and gas giant TNK-BP for £2bn last month.Mr Mittal, who topped the list for the past eight years, was the biggest faller in wealth terms after his 40% stake with his wife in steelmaker ArcelorMittal plunged from a peak of £28bn to just under £6bn.
Earlier this month former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney was revealed to have topped the Sunday Times Rich List of musicians with the £680m fortune he shares with his wife Nancy Shevell.
Sir Paul, whose American heiress wife is said to be worth £150m, has topped each music list since 1989 when he was worth an estimated £80m.
Andrew Lloyd Webber was second with £620m and Irish rock band U2 were third with £520m.
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