Over half of the UK’s billionaires are sustaining financial losses because of the outbreak of covid-19, with several individuals seeing as much as £6bn wiped out by the pandemic.
Overall, the country’s uber wealthy have experienced a £54bn ($65bn, €60bn) fall in their wealth, as reported by British newspaper The Sunday Times, in its yearly ‘Rich List’.
It said this is the first time the UK’s top slice has seen a decline in their collective wealth since 2009.
But their abundance of wealth has not stopped some from seeking financial support during the pandemic.
At least 63 people who feature on the list, including 20 billionaires, have applied for the government’s scheme to furlough some of their staff.
The programme sees employees receive 80% of their salary – up to £2,500 a month – from the government.
Currently, around 7.5 million people in the UK have been furloughed.
Rankings
Among the top 10, the Hinduja brothers are the richest people who have taken advantage of the scheme – featuring in second position with an overall wealth of £16bn.
According to the newspaper’s list, the wealthiest people in the UK are:
- James Dyson and family, £16.2bn;
- Sri and Gopi Hinduja and family, £16bn;
- David and Simon Reuben, £16bn;
- Leonard Blavatnik, £15.78bn;
- Jim Ratcliffe, £12.15bn;
- Kirsten and Jorn Rausing, £12.1bn;
- Alisher Usmanov, £11.68bn;
- Guy, George and Galen Jr Weston and family, £10.53bn;
- Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and Michel de Carvalho, £10.3bn; and,
- The Duke of Westminster and the Grosvenor family, £10.29bn.
Gender (in)balance
The Sunday Times also reported a record number of women making the 2020 rich list, which has always been dominated by men.
But the gender balance is still very problematic.
Out of 1,000 entries in the list, just 150 are women holding at least £120m in personal wealth.
On top of that, only 96 qualify as ‘self-made’ wealthy, while 54 are featured thanks to marriage or inheritance.
The top 10 richest women, with the wealth of their respective families as well, are:
- Kirsten Rausing, £12.2bn, who was also first in 2019;
- Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken, £10.3bn, holding on to second place as well;
- Marit Rausing, £9.6bn, first time on the list;
- Kirsty Bertarelli, £9.2bn, down from third place in 2019;
- Denise Coates, £7.1bn, fourth place in 2019;
- Salma Hayek, £6.6bn, fallen one place from last year;
- Baroness Howard de Walden, £4.3bn, same ranking as previous list;
- Leonie Schroder, £3.9bn, first time on the list;
- Carrie Perrodo, £3.4bn, down from sixth place in 2019; and,
- Harriet Heyman, £3bn, decline from the eight spot last year.
