{"id":430063,"date":"2026-05-16T04:37:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T04:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/430063\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T04:37:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T04:37:26","slug":"the-sunday-times-rich-list-2026-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/430063\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sunday Times Rich List 2026 revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

A crypto billionaire bankrolling the Reform Party, the Gallagher brothers and Donald Trump\u2019s man in London are among the new faces in this year\u2019s Sunday Times Rich List<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 38th edition of the rankings show the UK\u2019s 350 most affluent individuals and families share combined wealth of \u00a3784 billion \u2014 a 1.4 per cent rise on last year and a sum equivalent to a quarter of UK GDP.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are 157 billionaires \u2014 one more than in 2025 but 20 fewer than the peak four years ago. But the list\u2019s entry level has dipped by \u00a310 million to \u00a3340 million, another indicator of the sluggish economic environment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sir David and Victoria Beckham, the Labour donor Gary Lubner and the sports promoters Barry and Eddie Hearn all join Britain\u2019s billionaire club for the first time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The boxer Tyson Fury, the \u201ccountry chic\u201d fashionista Jade Holland Cooper and a little-known 29-year-old video game creator from Southampton are among the debutants on the 40 under 40 young Rich List<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Christopher Harborne<\/a>, the Thailand-based billionaire who has given at least \u00a312 million to Nigel Farage and the Reform Party, makes his debut at No 6 with estimated wealth of \u00a318.177 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With Britain\u2019s tax regime regarded as increasingly unattractive to the global super-rich, Warren Stephens is the only billionaire from overseas found to have moved to the UK over the past year.<\/p>\n

Arkansas-born Stephens, who ran his family\u2019s investment firm for many years and in 2015 banked $400 million from selling a newspaper group, is now the US president\u2019s ambassador in London.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s edition has been shaped by an exodus of wealthy individuals leaving the UK<\/a> in the wake of tax changes unveiled by Rachel Reeves, the chancellor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nearly a third (111) of the UK citizens who appear in the main list of 350 individuals no longer live on the British mainland. At least 15 foreign nationals who appeared in last year\u2019s Rich List have been removed because they now live elsewhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The two Rich Listers who have increased their wealth the most over the past year were both born in Moscow, five years apart. A fundraising for the payments firm Revolut has increased the net worth of its co-founder Nik Storonsky<\/a>, 41, to \u00a316.411 billion \u2014 average gains of \u00a325.8 million a day since last year\u2019s Rich List.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alex Gerko<\/a>, the 46-year-old mathematician who set up the trading platform XTX, has a fortune now estimated at \u00a316.006 billion \u2014 average daily gains of \u00a319.9 million over the past 12 months. Storonsky and Gerko have both publicly opposed Vladimir Putin\u2019s invasion of Ukraine<\/a>, renounced their Russian citizenship and become UK nationals.<\/p>\n

Storonsky and Gerko are among five individuals named in the Top 10 of the Rich List who were born in what was the USSR. The other three are Ukraine-born Sir Leonard Blavatnik and Igor and Dmitry Bukhman; billionaire brothers who grew up 300 miles from Moscow, oppose the war and are no longer Russian citizens.<\/p>\n

Further down the list, there are new entries from the worlds of music and entertainment. Noel and Liam Gallagher make their debut on the Rich List owing to the Oasis comeback tour. The 41 shows took nearly \u00a3400 million at the box office and augmented the value of the brothers\u2019 back catalogue \u2014 now worth at least \u00a3250 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Emily Eavis, whose father Sir Michael Eavis created the Glastonbury festival, makes her debut on the Rich List. Experts have put a value of at least \u00a3400 million on the Eavis family\u2019s summer jamboree. There are also places for Sir Brian May and Roger Taylor. Selling Queen\u2019s back catalogue realised \u00a31 billion for the supergroup.<\/p>\n

An exodus of wealthy billionaires from overseas has been offset by a crop of new British-based billionaires. They include Paul Hamilton, the Suffolk-based Scotsman behind the software firm Halo, and Gary Lubner, a co-owner of the group behind Autoglass.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lubner has given more than \u00a310 million to the Labour Party and in this year\u2019s Giving List \u2014 philanthropy rankings published alongside the Rich List \u2014 vows to give away 95 per cent of his \u00a31.3 billion fortune<\/a>.<\/p>\n

David Beckham becomes the UK\u2019s first billionaire sportsman<\/a> owing to his stake in Inter Miami and an extensive property empire adjoining the US football club\u2019s stadium. The value of his wife Victoria\u2019s fashion label has also risen. The Beckhams\u2019 wealth is estimated at \u00a31.185 billion.<\/p>\n

A 300 per cent rise in the share price of the over-50s cruise operator Saga has returned brothers Sir Roger and Peter De Haan to the ranks of the Rich List\u2019s billionaire club for the first time since 2005. Their late father, Sidney, founded the insurance and holiday group in 1951.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Piotr Dabkowski and Mati Staniszewski, both 31, have become billionaires after a fundraising valued their artificial intelligence platform ElevenLabs at \u00a38.1 billion. Memories of watching poorly dubbed American films during their youth growing up in Poland inspired the pair to launch their London-based synthetic voice generator.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dabkowski and Staniszewski both feature in this year\u2019s 40 under 40. The Young Rich List is dominated by entrepreneurs who have made their fortunes from either artificial intelligence or fashion. Dua Lipa, Harry Styles, Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Harry Kane are among the household names to feature in these rankings.<\/p>\n

One of the less well-known entrants is Daniel Knight, the creator of the ghost-hunting adventure Phasmophobia. Knight, 29, spent five years quietly making the video game. More than 25 million copies have been sold, mostly in the US. His Southampton-based company has racked up profits of \u00a320.9 million and a film of the game is under development.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s 40 under 40 also features four sets of brothers. Twins Oliver and Alexander Kent-Braham founded the insurer Marshmallow, while Tom and Phil Beahon set up the fast-growing sportswear brand Castore.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mike and George Heaton paid themselves the minimum wage salaries for the first ten years of running their streetwear label Represent. The final pair, Ryan and Reece Broadhurst, created the clothes brand Arne after working for the NHS and in timber yards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The migration of so many Rich Listers to Monaco, Dubai, Switzerland and other low-tax destinations poses challenges for the UK public finances. A spokesman for the Treasury acknowledged that the government remains committed to ensuring that \u201cthose with the broadest shoulders\u201d contribute the most to the public finances, adding that modifications have been made to its tax changes to address some concerns. <\/p>\n

\u201cBritain remains very attractive to wealthy investors,\u201d the official added. \u201cLondon is the capital of capitals. The chancellor talks regularly to wealthy people who are committed to staying in Britain.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sunday Times Rich List: the top ten<\/p>\n

1. \u25b2 Sanjay and Dheeraj Hinduja and family: \u00a338bn
The death of their father, Gopi, has handed control of the Hindujas\u2019 vast, diverse empire to his London-based sons, Sanjay, 62, and Dheeraj, 54. Turmoil in the Middle East has also boosted demand for the Hindujas\u2019 coal businesses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

2. \u25b2 David and Simon Reuben and family: \u00a327.971bn
The India-born brothers are close to completing two vast renovations of historic London buildings, Admiralty Arch and Cambridge House, which are being transformed into luxurious hotels. Their US portfolio is now worth in excess of $5 billion. A company linked to the family donated \u00a3100,000 to Reform<\/a>.<\/p>\n

3. \u25b2 Sir Leonard Blavatnik: \u00a326.852bn
Born in Ukraine and raised in Russia, Blavatnik now has British and US citizenship. His most valuable asset is a controlling stake in the $15 billion Warner Music<\/a>. Through his Access Industries he owns a property portfolio worth \u00a32 billion, and recently paid $115 million for a house in the Hamptons. He also donated \u00a310 million to the Courtauld Gallery.\u00a0<\/p>\n

4. \u25b2 Idan Ofer: \u00a324.481bn
Shares in his New York-listed Kenon Holdings have almost doubled in value. The art-loving father of five and his wife, Batia, are among the world\u2019s leading art collectors. He also has a 28 per cent stake in the Spanish football team Atl\u00e9tico Madrid and an 85 per cent stake in Portugal\u2019s FC Famalic\u00e3o.<\/p>\n

5. \u25b2 Guy, George, Alannah and Galen Weston and family: \u00a318.939bn
The transatlantic Weston dynasty should do well from a mooted float of Primark on the London stock market. Other investments include Silver Spoon and Ryvita. Their stake in George Weston has made gains of more than \u00a31 billion.<\/p>\n

6. \u2605 Christopher Harborne: \u00a318.177bn
Donations of \u00a312 million to the Reform Party propelled the secretive Harborne into the headlines. Based in Thailand for more than two decades, his easiest UK asset to track is a \u00a3357 million stake in QinetiQ. The Cambridge-educated Harborne\u2019s most valuable asset is a 12 per cent holding in the cryptocurrency firm Tether, valued at \u00a3200 billion by Forbes and The Sunday Times.\u00a0<\/p>\n

7. \u25b2 Nik Storonsky: \u00a316.411bn
Co-founded and led by the Moscow-born techie, the financial services company Revolut was last year valued at more than \u00a355 billion. It secured a full banking licence in March. Storonsky owns 29 per cent of the shares.<\/p>\n

8. \u25b2 Alex Gerko: \u00a316.006bn
XTX, the Moscow-born mathematician\u2019s firm, handles trades of more than $250 billion a day. One of his companies paid out a dividend of more than \u00a32 billion. Cromulon Capital, his investment operation, is named after a race of aliens from the Rick and Morty animated sitcom.<\/p>\n

9. \u25bc Sir Jim Ratcliffe: \u00a315.194bn
Ineos, Ratcliffe\u2019s sprawling petrochemicals empire, spans 27 countries. As a result of rising debt, falling revenues and a \u00a3515.7 million loss, we have cut the value of the business to \u00a317 billion. Ratcliffe\u2019s 29 per cent stake in Manchester United FC is worth \u00a31.4 billion.<\/p>\n

10. \u25b2 Igor and Dmitry Bukhman: \u00a314.26bn
The Russian-born brothers own Playrix, one of the world\u2019s top three mobile games developers. Their private investment operation Rix Capital made gains of more than \u00a3900 million. Opposed to the war in Ukraine, the brothers are no longer Russian citizens and both now have joint British and Israeli citizenship. Igor and his wife, Anastasia, have pledged \u00a3100 million to the fight against type 1 diabetes.<\/p>\n

\u25b2 Wealth up
\u25bc Wealth down
\u2605 New entry<\/p>\n

Additional images: Reuters, Getty Images, Alamy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A crypto billionaire bankrolling the Reform Party, the Gallagher brothers and Donald Trump\u2019s man in London are among…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-430063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}