The Sunday Times Rich List 2024 is based on our estimates of the minimum wealth of Britain’s 350 richest people or families. The valuations were carried out between November 2023 and May 1, 2024.
The compilers of the Rich List 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 portfolio. The actual size of their fortunes may be much larger than our conservative figures.
We remain cautious regarding liabilities. Where companies have been involved in talks with banks over debt levels, we have cut the owners or large stakeholders out of the list until the situation is resolved. Where profits and assets of even high-profile entrepreneurs and business owners have moved into negative territory, we have removed them from the list. They may return in future years.
Many individuals in the list have generated their personal wealth from the sale of businesses. In valuing them we take into account the tax paid on the sale proceeds.
On inheritance tax we have taken advice, and while tax is payable on assets held at death at the rate of 40 per cent, no tax is paid on assets transferred by gift seven years before death or on those assets that pass to a surviving spouse. In the absence of public pronouncements from the individuals concerned, we assume foreign nationals will have taken advantage of their non-UK domicile status to avoid an inheritance tax liability.
In assessing privately owned hedge funds we tend to value them at between 2 and 5 per cent of their funds under management and their profit record.
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We value private companies on a multiple of their profits, depending on their sector, track record and the strength of their balance sheets. Our starting point is to take an average of 10-12 times the latest profit figure, but we also take account of the sector, track record and debt. Where a company has strong net assets but low profits, we have used the net asset figure as a benchmark for valuation.
The compilers use searches and analysis of company accounts and directors’ shareholdings published by Bureau van Dijk. Argus Vickers has also helped to identify individuals with substantial holdings in quoted companies.
Family shareholdings are grouped where it is obvious that the family acts together to defend the company’s interests. We make an exception when members of a family cash out from a business. In these instances, for example Marit, Lisbet, Sigrid and Hans Rausing and family, we list them separately from other arms of the family who retain their interests. We usually name the leading family member to represent the whole family’s interests, although in a small number of low-key families we have not highlighted an individual, just the family.
Family trusts are also aggregated and included where visible. We distinguish trusts held on behalf of family members, usually children and grandchildren, which we include as family wealth, and charitable trusts, which are not included.
Land is valued on what and where it is. Most valuable is London land with planning permission, then other urban land, then good farming, forestry, poor farming and finally desolate land. We take account of shooting and fishing rights. Estimates of agricultural land values have been given by Strutt & Parker, the land agency and chartered surveying group.
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Valuations of musicians’ wealth are based on a methodology developed by Cliff Dane, the author of the Rock Accounts books. These include analysis of published accounts and disclosed earnings, catalogue valuations and estimates of income from their present activity, such as touring, streaming services and retained earnings.
• Rich List 2024: discover the full list
The art treasures have been valued by an expert who wishes to remain anonymous. We have devised a formula that seeks to take account of the huge tax liabilities faced by the British aristocracy when they sell old masters and similar treasures. We generally assume about half the sale proceeds are lost to taxation. Similarly, if large art collections were to be put up for sale simultaneously, they could flood the market, depressing any proceeds.
The list of 350 includes people who are not British citizens but who live and work in Britain. In this age of globalisation, where London is regarded as a centre for a new financial elite, we also include people who are married to Britons, who have strong links with Britain, estates and other assets here, or who have backed Britain’s political parties, institutions or charities. We habitually remove those from overseas without British citizenship who have since moved away from the UK. This year we have done so with Yelena Baturina, Johnny Boufarhat, Mikhail Fridman, John Grayken, Nathan Kirsh, Telis Mistakidis and Trond Mohn.
Where husbands have transferred their assets to their wives, or vice versa, we name both parties. We also include British citizens abroad, but we exclude Rupert Murdoch, the executive chairman of News Corp, the parent company of The Sunday Times, because he is a US citizen and based in America. His family fortune is £11.6 billion. If he were in this list, he would be ranked 15th. We include his daughter Elisabeth Murdoch, who is based here and has accrued a £1.2 billion fortune from film and television production. We include citizens of the Republic of Ireland only if they have extensive UK business interests or were born here.
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We have used a large network of local correspondents and specialists to advise us on the wealthy. We protect their anonymity to allow them unfettered access to the rich.
Reference sources we have used include the national and regional press, plus a host of other publications: the daily Bloomberg Billionaires Index; Forbes World’s Billionaires List; Australian Financial Review Rich List; Quote 500 (Netherlands); The 300 Richest, Bilan (Switzerland); Challenges (France); New Zealand Rich List (National Business Review); Norway’s 400 Richest (Kapital); Forbes.com; Veckans Affarer (Sweden); North West Business Insider; Yorkshire Business Insider; Midlands Business Insider; Wales Business Insider; South East Business Insider; South West Business Insider; Management Today; Estates Gazette; Bloomberg Businessweek; Investors’ Chronicle; The Economist; Who’s Who; Debrett’s Distinguished People of Today; Who’s Really Who; Debrett’s Peerage & Baronetage; The Branded Gentry; Directory of the Turf; Who’s Who in the North; David Cannadine’s The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy; Asian Directory and Who’s Who International; Birmingham Post Midlands Rich List; and Eastern Eye’s Asian Rich List.
Anyone with suggestions for names that could be included in future can send an email in confidence to robert.watts1@sunday-times.co.uk and helen.davies@sunday-times.co.uk. The deadline for candidates for next year’s list is early February 2025.
Rich List compiled by Robert Watts
Edited by Helen Davies
Giving List compiled by Nick Rodrigues
Sunday Times Magazine editor Martin Hemming
Art director Daniel Biddulph
Design Robin Hedges, Heather Elliott, Krystal Loh
Pictures Louise Fenerci
Chief sub-editors Matt Munday, Helen Lawson (listings), Verity Stockdale and Gabriel Samuels (digital)
Writers John Arlidge, Caroline Scott, Hugo Daniel, Danny Scott, Alexandra Goss, Matilda Davies, Francisca Kellett
Sub-editors Mark Curtis-Raleigh, Anthony Green, Julia Chadwick, Beth Richardson-Barrett, Chris Jervis
Legal Alex Wade
Rich List 2024
Explore the definitive guide to the wealth of the UK’s richest people
