Latest news with #JoeLewis
Bloomberg
04-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Joe Lewis' $8 Billion Empire Loses Top Executive in Power Shift
The top executive at Joe Lewis' investment firm has left after working for the UK billionaire for more than two decades, leaving a younger crop of leaders atop the currency trader's global empire. Shehan Dissanayake departed Tavistock Group for personal reasons after most recently serving as the firm's chairman, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The 58-year-old Sri Lankan native, who still appeared on Tavistock's website in late 2024, is also no longer based in the US, said the person, who asked not to be identified as the details are private.
New York Times
22-06-2025
- Business
- New York Times
The Business of Football: Why Tottenham have not been bought, and how much are Wrexham worth?
Among the many things this column is waiting for — a result in the Manchester City vs Premier League cage fight, Fenway Sports Group to buy a Spanish team, Gianni Infantino to give a press conference — none has been imminent for quite as long as a takeover at Tottenham Hotspur. Much like soccer has been the fastest-growing sport in the United States for half a century, Spurs have been the next big English club on the block for a decade. Advertisement In that time, Spurs have built the best multi-purpose stadium in Europe and sold lots of shirts, but won only one trophy. During the same period, the Premier League has become majority-owned by American billionaires and Tottenham's billionaire former majority-owner, British businessman Joe Lewis, has put his shares into a family trust, pleaded guilty to insider trading, and celebrated his 88th birthday. This is a fruit ripe for picking and every investor, private-equity firm and sovereign wealth fund looking for a prize asset in the world's most popular domestic football league has kicked the tyres at Spurs, taken the tour and run the numbers. So, why hasn't anyone bought them yet? Well, one big reason is that the club has been run by Lewis' business partner, Daniel Levy, since 2001 and he owns just over a quarter of the club's shares. Most experts believe Spurs are worth about £3billion ($4bn), or perhaps a bit more now that they are back in the Champions League and the likes of Beyonce are filling the stadium over the summer. But Levy wants £3.75billion, another $1billion at today's exchange rate. Quite the gap, then, but not so wide that you cannot start haggling, which is why the Spurs takeover story re-emerges every few months and will continue to do so until someone hits Levy's number, which may have to come down a tad when Joe Lewis' family decide they want their inheritances. None of this is particularly shocking and has been widely reported, but The Athletic has been told by several potential suitors that there are two under-reported factors which may influence where this meeting of minds will come. The first is that not everybody sees the same potential in Tottenham — the north London district, not the club — that Levy and Lewis did. Spurs are by far the biggest attraction in an area that has not seen much gentrification. It is also usually an hour's taxi ride from the West End hotels and restaurants that the Premier League's overseas ownership class enjoy. Advertisement And the second is the £775million in private placement notes that Levy used to refinance the cost of building the stadium. The size of that debt is not the problem, as the additional revenue from the club's new home is more than meeting the interest payments. The issue is that Levy, thanks to his good timing and great salesmanship, got a sweet deal when those notes were sold to asset managers, investment firms and pension funds in 2021. Spurs issued nine tranches of notes, with a range of repayment dates from 2035 to 2051 and interest rates between 2.49 per cent and 3.02 per cent. According to the club's most recent accounts, Spurs had total borrowings of £851.5m at the end of June 2024, at an average rate of 2.79 per cent and average maturity of almost 19 years. This means Spurs are paying an interest rate that is lower than inflation. So, in financial terms, they are not really paying any interest at all. This is great for Spurs but terrible for everyone who holds that debt, which is why they are all hoping for a takeover, too, so they can exercise their change-of-control clauses, get their money back and do something else with it. The club's new owners would have no problem finding other people — and perhaps even the same people — with whom to refinance the debt. It will just cost them about £20million a year more at the current rates, which adds up over 19 years. However, neither of those two issues — Spurs' location or Levy's luck with the interest rate cycle — are permanent or insurmountable. London is a city of villages that have ebbed and flowed in appeal over the centuries, and any extra interest payments could be covered by a naming rights deal. Interest rates are also meant to be coming down. So, sit tight, takeover watchers. Spurs will be bought by someone, at some point. Not the boldest of predictions, maybe, but it is the best we can do. On the subject of valuation gaps, Spurs' is a hairline fracture compared to the gaping chasm at Wrexham or, more accurately, the debate about Wrexham's valuation on this column's favourite social-media channel, LinkedIn. It all started earlier this month with a Bloomberg report headlined 'Wrexham AFC Weighs Raising Funds at £350 Million Valuation'. Citing unnamed sources, the report said the newly promoted Championship club were talking to advisers about selling a minority stake to boost the playing budget and pay for a new stand. Advertisement Sensible stuff, right? And entirely in keeping with what the club's owners have said they would do and — in fact — have already done, as they sold a stake to the New York-based Allyn family last October. But that deal was at a valuation of £100million ($135million). OK, Wrexham were still a League One side back then, but it was a record for a third-tier side. So are we really suggesting they have more than tripled in value in less than nine months? The answer is of course not… or perhaps, because Wrexham are unlike any other club in the English football pyramid. First, they are Welsh. Second, they are the subject of a very popular Disney-made docuseries. And third, and we feel this column deserves a pat on the back for not mentioning this sooner, they are owned by Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds. For those among you who only have time in their lives for football, McElhenney is an American TV actor, producer and writer, and Reynolds is one of the world's best-paid actors and most recognisable faces. They bought the then-fifth-tier club for £2m in 2021, but three straight promotions, all charted in heart-warming fashion by Disney's cameras, have brought them to the gates of the Premier League. But come on, £350m?!? That's not far off half a billion U.S. dollars. Most English Football League clubs are lucky to be valued at double their annual turnover. In Wrexham's case, that would be £70m based on last season's earnings or £100m on next season's projected earnings. The top Premier League clubs are valued at about five times their turnover, which reflects the league's mega media-rights deals, as well as their huge stadiums, global fanbases and access to European football. For Wrexham's touted price tag to make sense, you would need to apply a revenue multiple that only the most popular American franchises, in the biggest leagues, can command. Advertisement But Wrexham is not Los Angeles, and the Championship is not the National Football League. Hence the arguments on LinkedIn. Of those, the most interesting has been between Alexander Jarvis, the founder of Abu Dhabi-based Blackbridge Sports LLC, and former Charlton manager and Southampton vice-chairman Les Reed. Jarvis, who recently advised an American group on their purchase of a small stake in Portugal's Benfica, among other deals, has written two posts about the Wrexham valuation, calling it 'a total clown show', 'football's most outrageous over-valuation', and 'a gamble on celebrity and hype that completely ignores the hard realities of running a football club in the Championship'. Plenty of people have replied to him saying they agree, including William Storey, who is best known for a collapsed sponsorship deal with F1 team Haas and several failed bids for football teams. He might not be the best referee, then. Reed, who has been Wrexham's 'football strategy consultant' since 2021, hit back with a post that pointed out Jarvis & Co 'have never actually experienced running a club, let alone a club in the Championship', before noting that Southampton's former owners, the Liebherr family, eventually sold their shares in the club for close to 10 times their initial investment, which is impressive but not quite the point Jarvis was making about multiples of turnover. Reed continued by raising the examples of Bournemouth, Brentford and Brighton, three clubs who have invested heavily to become 'sustainable' Premier League clubs, and asked 'why would serious investors not want a stake' in Wrexham's 'journey' towards the same destination. So, who is right? The guy trying to earn his crust by advising on football takeovers, or the chap who works for Wrexham? Well, according to this column's panel of secret football finance experts, it depends on whether Wrexham should be valued as a regular football club or if they have transcended that status and are now a global entertainment brand. If it is the former, they are worth about £100m, which is the valuation the Allyns came in at. If it is the latter, well, why not? Advertisement However, even that more conservative valuation is highly vulnerable to what is known in business as 'key person risk'. If Rob and Ryan are struck by lightning, get bored, fall out, get sick or lose a court case, will Wrexham look so transcendent? It is a good debate and there is only one way to settle it: the price someone actually pays for a stake in the club. While very few clubs are as exposed to key person risk as Wrexham, all are vulnerable to any weakening in demand for the right to broadcast or stream their matches. If you had to pick one reason valuations have kept rising in the big leagues on both sides of the Atlantic, it is that live sport has been a must-have for TV executives. This means their sports counterparts have only needed two rival broadcasters in any market to create an auction. So, this month's news that New York-based media giant Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) is splitting into two separate companies has prompted an outpouring of speculation about what it might mean for sport. So far, there is no real consensus. For those who have missed this story, WBD was formed in 2022 by an expensive merger between two multinational media conglomerates, WarnerMedia and Discovery. But the company's bosses have now decided to put all the cool, still-growing stuff in one company, Streaming & Studios, so it is not held back by the profitable-but-in-decline TV channels. The latter are being boxed up in a company called Global Networks and, just in case you did not work out which one of these two entities is the sexy one, it will be run by WBD's head beancounter, while the chief executive is getting the company that makes Batman, Harry Potter and Game of Thrones. And just to underline that message, all of WBD's merger-related debt is being passed to the dowdier daughter. Advertisement If there is any agreement on what this means for the sports industry, it is that any impact will be felt first in the United States, where WBD's streaming platform Max has struggled to find its place in a congested market, despite having a decent range of sports to offer. Does this mean that sport is no longer a must-have for any self-respecting media offering, or has WBD just packaged it badly? The main sports brand is TNT Sports, which is joining the gang in managed decline at Global Networks. It has been part of the Max bundle but has recently lost its NBA rights after a 40-year connection with the league. It still has some baseball, college basketball, ice hockey and motorsport, but it does not have any NFL, so it is more of a nice-to-have than a must-have for most American sports fans. The picture in the UK is a little different, as TNT Sports does have what most British armchair sports fans consider to be essential viewing, namely a package of Premier League rights and near-exclusive rights to UEFA's club competitions. TNT Sports acquired the football when it formed a 50/50 joint venture with BT Sports in 2022, which united BT's menu of football, rugby and assorted North American pastimes with Eurosport's smorgasbord of cycling, tennis and the snowy stuff we watch once every four years in the Winter Olympics. And then, just to confuse you even further, WBD's streaming offer in the UK and Europe has been Discovery+, although it has started to turn that off and replace it with Max. Oh, and BT has also been trying, unsuccessfully, to sell its 50 per cent of TNT Sports, which really means that WBD has declined to pay BT's price for the rest of the business. To make some sense of all this, this column asked four media analysts for their takes on the WBD split. Dan Harraghy of Ampere Analysis does not see any impact for WBD's UK operations until HBO Max launches in early 2026. For him, the real lesson of this tale is the tension 'between the high value placed on sports rights by linear TV players' and the negative outlook for traditional broadcasting, which would explain why so many leagues have stopped seeing growth in the value of their rights. Even the mighty Premier League has had to throw in more content, spread out over the weekend, to get the same amount of money from its domestic partners. Advertisement Independent analyst Paolo Pescatore thinks the split will highlight something he has been saying for a while: TNT Sports is 'an entity in slow, painful decline'. He thinks the joint venture was 'poorly executed', with subscriber numbers falling and losses rising, which is why nobody has bought that 50 per cent stake in the business. Pescatore also believes the rising cost of watching sport, coupled with confusion over where to watch it, has driven the rise in digital piracy. Sports rights consultant Pierre Maes said he cannot see signs of any positive strategy for building an attractive streaming product in the UK and Europe, and dismisses the WBD split as a 'desperate move to calm down the stock market'. But the BBC's former head of sports rights, David Murray, is a bit more optimistic. 'My initial view is that it's probably a good thing for sport,' he said. 'I never got their strategy of wanting to bundle the likes of HBO with TNT Sport. So, in theory, the Discovery+ proposition can be a lot more focused, which should keep the price lower and allow it to cut through more than it would have done as part of a broader bundle.' Lower prices and more focus on providing a great sports product should be a benefit to consumers and sports rights-holders, as digital piracy is probably the number one threat to professional sport as we know it. Speaking of good times gone bad, we cannot have an edition of this column without a new cautionary tale about multi-club ownership (MCO). This one concerns Irish club Drogheda United, who have just lost their appeal against a UEFA decision to prevent them taking part in next season's Conference League, a prize they thought they had earned with their FAI Cup victory last November, because their American owners Trivela also have a stake in Danish side Silkeborg, who qualified for the same competition. Under UEFA rules, two teams with common ownership cannot play in the same competition and any clash is avoided by removing the team that finished lowest in its league. In this case, UEFA looked at Drogheda United's ninth-place finish in 2024 versus Silkeborg's seventh-place finish this year. Trivela took its case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, claiming that neither the Football Association of Ireland nor UEFA told the Alabama-based group that European football's governing body had moved forward the date for owners of MCO groups to create enough separation between their teams so they can potentially compete against each other. Advertisement Until this year, owners had until the start of June to dilute their shareholdings in one club or put all of their shares in a blind trust, but UEFA shifted that deadline to the start of March. Drogheda United, of course, are not the only side to miss this memo, as FA Cup winners Crystal Palace are still waiting to find out if they will be allowed to take their place in the Europa League alongside their co-owner John Textor's French side Lyon. The two cases are not identical, as there is no dispute that Drogheda and Silkeborg are controlled by the same owner, whereas Textor has never had that much sway at Palace, but Trivela's travails demonstrate that UEFA is getting increasingly strict with MCO groups. 'We are totally gutted by this outcome for the club, its players, its staff and its supporters,' Trivela co-founder Ben Boycott tells The Athletic. 'To all of them, I'm deeply sorry that we're going through this. We genuinely felt we had a compelling case before CAS, a point somewhat reinforced in the observation that this appears to have been a split (2-1) decision among the arbitrators.' Trivela has committed to filling the €500,000 (£425,000) hole in Drogheda United's budget left by the removal of European football, but is still processing what Boycott believes was a 'very harsh decision which ignored a number of mitigating factors and months of good-faith efforts on our part to come to a solution with UEFA'. It has been a tough few weeks for Trivela as their English outfit, Walsall, were 12 points clear at the top of League Two with 11 games to go, only to lose form and end up in the play-offs, where they rallied to beat Chesterfield in the semi-finals, only to lose 1-0 at Wembley to AFC Wimbledon. More clubs equal more opportunities for disappointment. And let us wrap up this edition of the Business of Football with another column staple: an update on the arrival of English football's independent regulator. We will keep this short and sweet — it really is coming now. For the first time since this process started in 2021, something has happened ahead of schedule. On Tuesday, the Football Governance Bill passed through the committee stage of the legislative process, without requiring the three further days that had been scheduled for debate. Advertisement The next step is the report stage, then the third reading of the bill in the House of Commons, before moving to a final consideration of amendments and royal assent. But with the Conservative Party's Premier League-backed rearguard action running out of puff, the bill's supporters are confident it will become law before the politicians break up for their summer recess on July 22. Which means we can all start moaning about the regulator's shortcomings from next season.
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Mayor honors American heroes at Flag Day ceremony
(COLORADO SPRINGS) — Mayor Yemi Mobolade joined community leaders and veterans to commemorate Flag Day on Friday, June 13. A special recognition ceremony was held on Friday at the City Administration Building on South Nevada Avenue. The event had a presentation of the Spirit of Colorado Springs Flag Day Awards to two distinguished honorees. Joe Lewis, a retired Lieutenant Colonel and founder of Angels of America's Fallen, was honored for his work supporting the children of fallen military personnel, and Bob McLaughlin, a retired U.S. Army officer and Executive Director of Mt. Carmel Veterans Service Center, for his pivotal role in enhancing support services for local veterans, according to the City. 'We're celebrating not just the fabric of the flag, but truly what the flag represents, especially in this time of heightened partisanship and disunity, and bringing it back to the values of our flag, which is all about courage, perseverance, and integrity,' said Mayor Mobolade. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Scotsman
08-06-2025
- Business
- Scotsman
The 10 richest people in the UK in June 2025
Discover the stories behind the UK's top billionaires 💼 Sign up to our Scotsman Money newsletter, covering all you need to know to help manage your money. Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The UK's wealthiest individuals come from varied sectors including finance, technology, real estate, and manufacturing These billionaires have amassed fortunes through founding and leading major companies, innovative investments, and strategic business moves The list includes hedge fund founders, tech entrepreneurs, industrial giants, and property investors shaping the UK economy Several have international ties, reflecting the global nature of their businesses and investments Their combined influence extends beyond wealth, impacting industries, sports, and philanthropy across the UK and worldwide The UK is home to some of the world's most influential and wealthiest individuals, spanning diverse industries from finance and technology to real estate and manufacturing. These 10 billionaires have built their fortunes through innovation, strategic investments, and leadership of major global enterprises. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad From hedge fund pioneers and tech disruptors to industrial magnates and property moguls, this list highlights the UK's top wealth holders, showcasing their achievements, business empires, and impact on both the national and global stage. 10. Joe Lewis ($7 billion/£5.2 billion) (Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) | Getty Images In January 2024, Joe Lewis pled guilty to insider trading for sharing confidential information with his pilots and an ex-girlfriend. He was sentenced to three years probation and fined $5 million. He is currently living on his yacht, Aviva, in the Bahamas. Lewis owns the Tavistock Group, which holds over 200 assets across 13 countries. As a result of his conviction, he is expected to resign from board positions in U.S.-listed public companies and relinquish some ownership stakes. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Through Tavistock, Lewis owns Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur and holds a stake in UK pub operator Mitchells & Butlers. Born above a pub in London's East End, Lewis helped his family grow a catering business before selling it and becoming a currency trader. 9. Alexander Gerko ($7.5 billion/£5.5 billion) Alexander Gerko, a former FX quant trader at Deutsche Bank and head of FX trading at GSA Capital, founded the algorithmic trading firm XTX Markets in 2015. He now serves as Co-CEO of XTX, which reported record profits in 2021 and became the top provider of emerging market FX in 2022. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Originally from Russia, Gerko has lived and worked in the U.K. since 2006 and holds British citizenship. According to PitchBook, he has made angel investments in 62 companies, including Compology, which offers AI solutions for waste and transportation, and Yet Analytics. In 2022 alone, Gerko received more than $1 billion in dividends from XTX. XTX later filed a lawsuit against Trump's former accounting firm, Mazars, after it declined to work with the company due to Gerko's Russian origins. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 8. Nik Storonsky ($7.9 billion/£5.8 billion) Nik Storonsky is the cofounder and CEO of Revolut, a UK-based financial services company valued at $45 billion by private investors in August 2024. He holds an 18% stake in Revolut, which offers a wide range of services including currency exchange, fee-free ATMs, global money transfers, and budgeting tools. Now one of Europe's leading unicorns, the company processes 590 million transactions per month and serves 45 million retail customers. Storonsky began his career trading derivatives at Lehman Brothers and renounced his Russian citizenship in 2022 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 7. Denise Coates ($8.4 billion/£6.2 billion) () | Getty Images Denise Coates is co-CEO of Bet365, one of the world's largest online gambling companies, which she runs alongside her billionaire brother, John. Originally trained as an accountant, Coates took over several of her family's betting shops before selling them to bookmaker Coral. Recognising the growing potential of online gambling, she purchased the domain in 2000 and launched the platform the following year. She owns roughly half of the privately held company, which processes over $65 billion in bets annually. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 6. Christopher Hohn ($9.2 billion/£6.8 billion) () | Getty Images Activist investor Chris Hohn founded The Children's Investment Fund, a London-based hedge fund, in 2003. Today, the fund manages $58 billion and holds large, focused stakes in companies such as Microsoft, Visa, and General Electric. Hohn donates a portion of the firm's profits to the Children's Investment Fund Foundation, which now has an endowment of over $6 billion. The son of a Jamaican car mechanic, Hohn studied at Southampton University in the UK before earning an MBA from Harvard. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad He began his career in consulting and private equity, later joining Richard Perry's hedge fund, Perry Capital, in 1996. 5. Anthony Bamford & family ($9.6 billion/£7 billion) (Photo: ARTHUR EDWARDS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) | POOL/AFP via Getty Images Anthony Bamford and his family own JCB, a construction equipment powerhouse generating nearly $7 billion in annual revenue. The company was founded by his father in 1945 in a garage in Uttoxeter, England. Today, JCB sells its machinery in 150 countries, with customers including the U.S. military. 4. Simon & David Reuben ($13.4 billion/£9.9 billion) Simon and David Reuben share a vast fortune in real estate, technology, and investments. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In 2016, they sold a 49% stake in their data centre company, GlobalSwitch, to a Chinese investor consortium for nearly $3 billion. Two years later, they sold an additional 25% for $2.7 billion to a group of Asian institutional and private investors. Born in Mumbai and raised in the U.K., David began his career trading metals, while Simon imported carpets and invested in property. Their trading firm, Transworld, was active in the aluminium markets of Russia and Kazakhstan during the 1990s. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Today, the Reuben family holds an estimated 14% stake in Premier League club Newcastle United FC. 3. James Dyson ($15.3 billion/£11.3 billion) (Photo:for Dyson) | Getty Images for Dyson Frustrated with his family's underperforming vacuum, James Dyson set out in 1978 to create a better one, using cyclone technology to separate dirt from air. Today, Dyson employs more than 5,000 engineers globally and announced in 2020 that it would invest the equivalent of $14 million per week in product development through 2025. In 2019, the company abandoned its electric car project, citing a lack of commercial viability. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Despite attending art school in London and not holding an engineering degree, Dyson has become a pioneer in design and innovation. His company's popular line of intelligent air purifiers claims to have generated the most accurate global data on indoor air quality. 2. Sir Jim Ratcliffe ($16.8 billion/£12.4 billion) (Photo: BERTRAND GUAY/AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images Former chemical engineer James Ratcliffe is the founder, chairman, and majority owner of Ineos Group, a $68 billion (2022 revenue) chemical giant. Headquartered in London, Ineos manufactures a wide range of products—from synthetic oils and plastics to solvents essential for producing insulin and antibiotics. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The company is a major player in the UK's shale industry, with its 600-foot 'Dragon Ships' pioneering the transport of US shale gas to Europe. Ratcliffe mortgaged his home in 1992 to finance the buyout of a BP chemicals unit, and six years later, he used assets from that deal to establish Ineos. In 2021, Ineos acquired two chemical divisions from BP for $5 billion, and in 2022, it launched petrochemical joint ventures with Sinopec worth over $7 billion. In 2023, Ineos expanded further by purchasing $1.4 billion in US onshore oil and gas assets from Chesapeake Energy. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Most recently, Ratcliffe took a 28% stake in Manchester United, investing $1.5 billion over two months ending in early 2024. 1. Michael Platt ($18.8 billion/£13.8 billion) Michael Platt is the cofounder and CEO of BlueCrest Capital Management, which he launched in late 2000 following nearly ten years at JP Morgan. He grew BlueCrest into one of the largest hedge funds in the world, at one point overseeing more than $35 billion in assets. After a challenging foray into equities and a period of underperformance that triggered investor withdrawals, Platt returned all outside capital in 2015 and transformed BlueCrest into a private family office.
Scotsman
08-06-2025
- Business
- Scotsman
The 10 richest people in the UK in June 2025
Discover the stories behind the UK's top billionaires 💼 Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The UK's wealthiest individuals come from varied sectors including finance, technology, real estate, and manufacturing These billionaires have amassed fortunes through founding and leading major companies, innovative investments, and strategic business moves The list includes hedge fund founders, tech entrepreneurs, industrial giants, and property investors shaping the UK economy Several have international ties, reflecting the global nature of their businesses and investments Their combined influence extends beyond wealth, impacting industries, sports, and philanthropy across the UK and worldwide The UK is home to some of the world's most influential and wealthiest individuals, spanning diverse industries from finance and technology to real estate and manufacturing. These 10 billionaires have built their fortunes through innovation, strategic investments, and leadership of major global enterprises. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad From hedge fund pioneers and tech disruptors to industrial magnates and property moguls, this list highlights the UK's top wealth holders, showcasing their achievements, business empires, and impact on both the national and global stage. 10. Joe Lewis ($7 billion/£5.2 billion) (Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) | Getty Images In January 2024, Joe Lewis pled guilty to insider trading for sharing confidential information with his pilots and an ex-girlfriend. He was sentenced to three years probation and fined $5 million. He is currently living on his yacht, Aviva, in the Bahamas. Lewis owns the Tavistock Group, which holds over 200 assets across 13 countries. As a result of his conviction, he is expected to resign from board positions in U.S.-listed public companies and relinquish some ownership stakes. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Through Tavistock, Lewis owns Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur and holds a stake in UK pub operator Mitchells & Butlers. Born above a pub in London's East End, Lewis helped his family grow a catering business before selling it and becoming a currency trader. 9. Alexander Gerko ($7.5 billion/£5.5 billion) Alexander Gerko, a former FX quant trader at Deutsche Bank and head of FX trading at GSA Capital, founded the algorithmic trading firm XTX Markets in 2015. He now serves as Co-CEO of XTX, which reported record profits in 2021 and became the top provider of emerging market FX in 2022. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Originally from Russia, Gerko has lived and worked in the U.K. since 2006 and holds British citizenship. According to PitchBook, he has made angel investments in 62 companies, including Compology, which offers AI solutions for waste and transportation, and Yet Analytics. In 2022 alone, Gerko received more than $1 billion in dividends from XTX. XTX later filed a lawsuit against Trump's former accounting firm, Mazars, after it declined to work with the company due to Gerko's Russian origins. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 8. Nik Storonsky ($7.9 billion/£5.8 billion) Nik Storonsky is the cofounder and CEO of Revolut, a UK-based financial services company valued at $45 billion by private investors in August 2024. He holds an 18% stake in Revolut, which offers a wide range of services including currency exchange, fee-free ATMs, global money transfers, and budgeting tools. Now one of Europe's leading unicorns, the company processes 590 million transactions per month and serves 45 million retail customers. Storonsky began his career trading derivatives at Lehman Brothers and renounced his Russian citizenship in 2022 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 7. Denise Coates ($8.4 billion/£6.2 billion) () | Getty Images Denise Coates is co-CEO of Bet365, one of the world's largest online gambling companies, which she runs alongside her billionaire brother, John. Originally trained as an accountant, Coates took over several of her family's betting shops before selling them to bookmaker Coral. Recognising the growing potential of online gambling, she purchased the domain in 2000 and launched the platform the following year. She owns roughly half of the privately held company, which processes over $65 billion in bets annually. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 6. Christopher Hohn ($9.2 billion/£6.8 billion) () | Getty Images Activist investor Chris Hohn founded The Children's Investment Fund, a London-based hedge fund, in 2003. Today, the fund manages $58 billion and holds large, focused stakes in companies such as Microsoft, Visa, and General Electric. Hohn donates a portion of the firm's profits to the Children's Investment Fund Foundation, which now has an endowment of over $6 billion. The son of a Jamaican car mechanic, Hohn studied at Southampton University in the UK before earning an MBA from Harvard. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad He began his career in consulting and private equity, later joining Richard Perry's hedge fund, Perry Capital, in 1996. 5. Anthony Bamford & family ($9.6 billion/£7 billion) (Photo: ARTHUR EDWARDS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) | POOL/AFP via Getty Images Anthony Bamford and his family own JCB, a construction equipment powerhouse generating nearly $7 billion in annual revenue. The company was founded by his father in 1945 in a garage in Uttoxeter, England. Today, JCB sells its machinery in 150 countries, with customers including the U.S. military. 4. Simon & David Reuben ($13.4 billion/£9.9 billion) Simon and David Reuben share a vast fortune in real estate, technology, and investments. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In 2016, they sold a 49% stake in their data centre company, GlobalSwitch, to a Chinese investor consortium for nearly $3 billion. Two years later, they sold an additional 25% for $2.7 billion to a group of Asian institutional and private investors. Born in Mumbai and raised in the U.K., David began his career trading metals, while Simon imported carpets and invested in property. Their trading firm, Transworld, was active in the aluminium markets of Russia and Kazakhstan during the 1990s. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Today, the Reuben family holds an estimated 14% stake in Premier League club Newcastle United FC. 3. James Dyson ($15.3 billion/£11.3 billion) (Photo:for Dyson) | Getty Images for Dyson Frustrated with his family's underperforming vacuum, James Dyson set out in 1978 to create a better one, using cyclone technology to separate dirt from air. Today, Dyson employs more than 5,000 engineers globally and announced in 2020 that it would invest the equivalent of $14 million per week in product development through 2025. In 2019, the company abandoned its electric car project, citing a lack of commercial viability. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Despite attending art school in London and not holding an engineering degree, Dyson has become a pioneer in design and innovation. His company's popular line of intelligent air purifiers claims to have generated the most accurate global data on indoor air quality. 2. Sir Jim Ratcliffe ($16.8 billion/£12.4 billion) (Photo: BERTRAND GUAY/AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images Former chemical engineer James Ratcliffe is the founder, chairman, and majority owner of Ineos Group, a $68 billion (2022 revenue) chemical giant. Headquartered in London, Ineos manufactures a wide range of products—from synthetic oils and plastics to solvents essential for producing insulin and antibiotics. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The company is a major player in the UK's shale industry, with its 600-foot 'Dragon Ships' pioneering the transport of US shale gas to Europe. Ratcliffe mortgaged his home in 1992 to finance the buyout of a BP chemicals unit, and six years later, he used assets from that deal to establish Ineos. In 2021, Ineos acquired two chemical divisions from BP for $5 billion, and in 2022, it launched petrochemical joint ventures with Sinopec worth over $7 billion. In 2023, Ineos expanded further by purchasing $1.4 billion in US onshore oil and gas assets from Chesapeake Energy. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Most recently, Ratcliffe took a 28% stake in Manchester United, investing $1.5 billion over two months ending in early 2024. 1. Michael Platt ($18.8 billion/£13.8 billion) Michael Platt is the cofounder and CEO of BlueCrest Capital Management, which he launched in late 2000 following nearly ten years at JP Morgan. He grew BlueCrest into one of the largest hedge funds in the world, at one point overseeing more than $35 billion in assets. After a challenging foray into equities and a period of underperformance that triggered investor withdrawals, Platt returned all outside capital in 2015 and transformed BlueCrest into a private family office. Since then, the firm has thrived - delivering standout returns, including 153% in 2022 and 95% in 2020, with no annual performance dipping below 20%.
