Flotation frenzy adds new faces to 2014 Rich List
THIS year’s swathe of initial public offerings (IPOs) has brought some fresh meat to the Sunday Times Rich List, with the founders of Boohoo.com, AO.com and King all joining the monied pack.
AO.com founder John Roberts enters the list at 246th, with a wealth stack of £410m. Boohoo.com founder Mahmud Kamani is a new entry at 307th with an IPO windfall of £300m. Meanwhile, the March flotation of King has added three names to the Rich List. Internet entrepreneur Mel Morris’s stake in King is worth £407m post-float, putting him at 238th with £430m and King’s founders, Riccardo Zacconi (£354m, 271st) and Sebastian Knutsson (£200m, 458th) have joined the hallowed list too.
Along with the newcomers, the Rich List features the usual City names. It’s two different stories for the Rothschilds this year with scion Nat’s wealth listed as having declined by £177m over the year, slipping from 126th to 192nd on the list.
Meanwhile his father Lord Rothschild added £15m to his wealth pot, but still lags behind his son, at 216th.
Supermarket millionaires have had a tough year; Sir Ken Morrison’s wealth has slipped by £105m to £900m, dropping him from 83rd last year to 110th place. Justin King’s upcoming departure from Sainsbury’s has helped to push Lord Sainsbury’s coffers down £50m to £540m, slipping him down to 188th place from 150th.
As well as its wealth, the list has brought the financial industry’s generosity to the fore. Hedgie Chris Hohn is the fourth biggest giver on the list, donating £156.5m to charity (23.82 per cent of his wealth).
His hedge fund peers Jonathan Ruffer, Andrew Law and Talal Shakerchi are also in the top 25 biggest givers, along with Lord Sainsbury, Leonard Polonsky of Hansard Global, Admiral’s Henry Engelhardt and Lord Rothschild.