Sunday Times Rich List: Harry Styles and Sir Jim Ratcliffe named among wealthiest in London - but numbers of billionaires falling
Robert Watts, compiler of the Sunday Times Rich List, said: 'The Sunday Times Rich List is changing. Our billionaire count is down and the combined wealth of those who feature in our research is falling. We are also finding fewer of the world's super rich are coming to live in the UK.
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Daily Mirror
24-05-2025
- Daily Mirror
Lewis Hamilton's name change, Monaco winner's net worth, dating history
Sir Lewis Hamilton has once again been named as the UK's richest active sportsperson, but the F1 star's life has seen a lot happen away from the track Formula One ace Sir Lewis Hamilton has once again topped the list as the UK's wealthiest active sportsman, according to the 2025 Sunday Times Rich List. The seven-time world champion was previously ranked as the 350th richest individual in the UK, boasting a staggering net worth of £350million. However, following his lucrative switch from Mercedes to Ferrari ahead of the 2025 Formula One World Championship, his fortune has skyrocketed, with his net worth now estimated at £385m, placing him 324th on the list. Hamilton's surprise move to Ferrari sent shockwaves through the F1 community, especially since he had inked a two-year contract with Mercedes the previous summer before opting to activate a one-year break clause. The 40-year-old is reportedly set to pocket an eye-watering £50m annually with his new team, having agreed to a two-season contract with an option for a third in 2027. This salary shatters the record for the highest F1 pay packet ever, a record previously held by Max Verstappen last season when he earned a base salary of £47m, reports Wales Online. Hamilton's earnings could potentially exceed his £50m salary, as this figure is not thought to include performance bonuses, meaning it could significantly increase if the season proves successful. However, after six races with Ferrari, the British star has yet to secure a podium finish, with his fourth placed finish at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix being his best performance with the Scuderia. He clinched his last World Championship title in 2020, equalling Michael Schumacher's seven-world-title record and solidifying his status as one of the greatest racing drivers ever. Since then, there's been plenty of buzz around Hamilton's life off the circuit, including whispers about his romantic connections with various A-list celebrities and even chatter about him considering a name change. Mirror Sport takes you through some of these occurrences. Surprise name change Hamilton made headlines when he announced a surprise name change. In 2021, after being knighted for his contributions to motorsport, Hamilton brought along his mother Carmen, who separated from his father Anthony during his childhood, to witness his knighthood ceremony conducted by King Charles at Windsor Castle. The year after his knighthood, Hamilton disclosed his intentions to honour his mother in an impactful way, declaring that he was in the process of legally adopting her maiden name, Larbalestier, into his own as a middle name. He said: "None of you might know that my mum's [sur]name is Larbalestier, and I'm just about to put that in my name. "Because I don't really fully understand the whole idea of why, when people get married, the woman loses her name. I really want her name to continue on with the Hamilton name." It's unknown as to whether Hamilton has followed through with the legal procedures to effectuate the name change. Lewis Hamilton's dating history Hamilton's love life continues to draw attention, especially considering his past relationships with prominent stars. Throughout his illustrious career, Hamilton's high-profile relationships and romantic life have been under intense media scrutiny. He has reportedly dated an array of A-list celebrities over the years, including his well-publicised romance with Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger, which lasted for nearly eight years. The on-again, off-again relationship began when they met at the 2007 MTV EMAs but ended for good in February 2015, after three break-ups. At the time, both parties were said to be "devastated" by the split. Scherzinger moved on to date Bulgarian tennis player Grigor Dimitrov, followed by Scottish rugby international Thom Evans, to whom she is now engaged. Hamilton, meanwhile, has been linked to numerous high-profile figures from the music, fashion, and entertainment industries. Some of these rumoured connections include supermodels Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner, as well as singer Rihanna, all of whom he claimed were simply close friends. Other prominent names associated with the British racing star include singers Rita Ora, Nicki Minaj, and Shakira, alongside model Juliana Nalu, an ex-girlfriend of Kanye West. More recently, Hamilton sparked romance speculation when spotted having lunch with Modern Family actress Sofia Vergara, 12 years his senior, in New York. TMZ stated the couple were "engrossed in conversation" yet any whispers of romance have been squashed, as it appears they are both friends. Hollywood film role Hamilton is set to blaze his trail into Tinseltown later this year with 'F1: The Movie' hitting cinemas. He'll join Hollywood big-hitters like Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem in a fast-paced drama that's got motorsport fans' hearts racing. Pitt plays an ex-F1 driver pushed back onto the track to guide a young hotshot. Hamilton will be sharing the silver screen with all the speedsters from 2023's F1 teams, appearing as themselves. He has been praised by the directors, not just for his acting, but also as a producer, where he helped ensure the scenery and the happenings were as close to F1 reality as possible. Director Joseph Kosinski said to "The first day was really fun. It was me, Brad and Lewis Hamilton at the track together, all of us jumping in cars and driving each other around in sports cars, which was one of those things, I'll never forget having Lewis Hamilton as your driving instructor. "Brad and Damson are both driving in this film and in order to get them into these race cars, it required months, literally months of training. But what we learned and what Lewis was really interested [in] was seeing, did Brad know how to drive, right? Because if Brad can't drive, this whole film wasn't going to work. "What Lewis was very happy to discover was that Brad had a lot of just natural ability right from the start, and I don't know where he got that or if he was born with it, and he rides motorcycles, which I think has something to do with it. But he's just a very talented, naturally gifted driver, which for Lewis after that first meeting gave him a lot of confidence that we might have a shot at pulling this off."
The Guardian
23-05-2025
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on billionaire Britain: tax wealth fairly or face democratic unravelling
Britain for the last decade has experienced a bleak paradox: rising child poverty alongside a dramatic increase in billionaire wealth. This inequality has been tolerated partly because greed has been rehabilitated as virtue. The Billionaire Britain report, published this week by the Equality Trust, reveals what many instinctively feel but few in parliament will admit: the UK economy has become a machine for the upward redistribution of wealth. Using Sunday Times Rich List data, the report found that the 50 wealthiest UK families now own more than the poorest half of the population combined. Their opulence is no accident. It's largely built on the labour and consumption of those 34 million other Britons. The gains of society are being hoarded by those least in need. There's a lexicon that sells it all as 'entrepreneurial spirit' and business dynamism. But the very markets that reward the wealthiest so handsomely are constructed and policed by the state. Governments entrench intellectual property rights, strengthen legal monopolies and write policies that benefit banks and asset markets. Austerity was imposed on the many, even as a decade of quantitative easing created fiscal space that could have been used for public good. Instead it enriched the already wealthy by inflating property and share prices while tax cuts benefited the rich. A small correction to pandemic-driven gains for the billionaire class signifies no major shift. Their fortunes are 10 times larger today than they were in 1990. Louis XIV's finance minister said good tax policy plucks the most feathers with the least hissing. It was suggested that the government's small-scale tax rises had triggered a full-blown squawk. More than 10,000 millionaires, it was reported, had fled the UK in 2024. The source? Not actual migration data, but a firm selling second passports to the nervous rich. It is hard to not think such a company feeds on tax panic. Its numbers appear more astute marketing than solid evidence. Labour should be immune to such public relations stunts. Billionaires do not emerge in a vacuum. They are the product of deliberate choices. Property speculation, inheritance laws and tax avoidance schemes are not spontaneous market outcomes. They are often lobbied for by people with access to government, on behalf of those who stand to profit. It's no accident, then, that over a quarter of UK billionaires built their wealth through property and inheritance, and another quarter through finance – sectors that rely on rent extraction more than innovation. The rich get richer because political leaders protect that growth – often in service of their own ambitions. A Britain governed in the public interest must not defer to a plutocratic class. There needs to be a break with the current model. Politicians could, as a start, take up Tax Justice UK's idea for a 2% wealth tax on assets over £10m. Campaigners say this would raise £24bn annually – enough to begin repairing broken Britain. Oxfam says 78% of the public would support such a progressive levy. Yet such proposals are still framed as radical. What's radical is that monopoly profits end up in private hands while the state can't fund public services. It is inescapably true that the rules have been written to benefit a tiny elite. They can be rewritten. If not, then the cost to society risks being paid in populist anger, democratic decay and a long-term loss of trust.
Wales Online
18-05-2025
- Wales Online
Billionaire's holiday home in stunning Welsh village with a 'bloody awful' caveat
Billionaire's holiday home in stunning Welsh village with a 'bloody awful' caveat He described the coastal spot as Wales' Côte d'Azur Simon Nixon, the co-founder of (Image: Western Mail ) Billionaire Simon Nixon, who made his fortune through the website has been crowned as the second-richest man in Wales, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. The tech entrepreneur co-founded the website in 1993. However, before the website and the billions, Mr Nixon grew up in Flintshire, North Wales, although he was born in Lincolnshire. Mr Nixon went on to make his company public in 2007, and had sold all his shares in by 2016. The billionaire had indicated an intention to leave Britain to Cheshire Live as the weather here was 'bloody awful'. He said at the time: 'I have been looking. For a long time I have wanted to spend more time in a climate where the weather is better. The whole point of having financial independence is to enhance your standard of living. 'Don't get me wrong, if I could combine a higher standard of living with lower tax that would be an advantage.' Love dreamy Welsh homes? Sign up to our newsletter here Mr Nixon is reported to have moved from Chester in England to Jersey in 2013, where he owns a multi-million dollar home, according to Forbes. Article continues below Mr Nixon presently has investments in Monzo, and also makes money from his holiday home website Simon Escapes where he rents out his personal collection of luxury homes around the world from Cornwall to Malibu. The billionaire who is currently worth £1.95bn of propertY around the globe and also owns a luxury pad in Wales. Abersoch is an in-demand destination in Wales (Image: Ian Cooper/North Wales Live ) He bought the Borth Cottage in Abersoch, Gwynedd in around 2011, hailing the location as Wales' Côte d'Azur. After shelling out over £1.2m on a makeover for the property, the billionaire had hoped that this luxurious property would help local businesses in the area. Speaking to Wales Online in 2013 , Mr Nixon said that if her had wanted to make money, he would have invested in something else. He said at the time: 'I want the area to prosper and do well. For me, if the area becomes an all-year round place for tourists that would be my goal.' Mr Nixon also believed that Abersoch's Coconut Kitchen was among the best Thai restaurants around. He said: 'All the fish comes from the local area, the cafes are great too and so is the surfing school. 'There are so many good facilities around that I would like to see people use – have the cafes open all year round, for example.' Though the property was initially meant to be a residence for the billionaire, but he decided against it, as he said: 'I would have felt really guilty about this. Properties are meant to be lived in – they need to breathe, and it isn't good for the area if nobody is around. 'Now people will be there for about 45 weeks of the year, people who appreciate and respect the house and its location.' Article continues below Mr Nixon's luxury lets can be rented out as part of his Simon's Escapes business.
