MEDIA AND MOBILE phone mogul Denis O’Brien has seen a decrease of €348million in his fortune in the past year, the biggest drop in wealth among Ireland’s richest people, according to the Sunday Times Rich List which has been published today.
It’s not all bad news for O’Brien though, as with a fortune of over €2.6 billion, he’s still Ireland’s second richest person. Top spot (on €7.1 billion) goes to retailer Hilary Weston and her family, who own Brown Thomas in Dublin and Selfridges in London. This is their fourth year in the number one spot.
Investor John Dorrance is at number three on the list of Ireland’s richest people, followed by financier Dermot Desmond and The Earl of Iveagh and the Guinness family.
All Irish-born people are eligible for the list, and of the 250 named, 46 are also among Britain’s richest 1,000 people. The combined wealth of Ireland’s richest 250 people is €46.71 billion. That’s compared to €43.6 billion in 2011.
Topping the overall rich list is steel Tycon Laksmhi Mittal, who is worth €15.5 billion, despite a fall in wealth of 27 per cent. Second on the list is Russian business magnate Alisher Usmanov, who is worth €15.1 billion, followed by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich who, despite a drop of 8 per cent, is still worth €11.6 billion.
Social media millionaires
Alisher Usmanov also tops the list of social media millionaires, due to investments in Facebook. Michael Moritz of LinkedIn is in second place, followed by Niklas Zennstrom of Skype and U2′s Bono, who has stakes in Facebook and Yelp.
The under-30s are faring fairly well too. Twenty-five year old Thomas Persson of the H&M empire is worth €859 million, topping the list of richest young people. Mashable founder Pete Cashmore, who’s 26, is number at number 7 and is a new entry on the list. Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint are at numbers 8, 17 and 18 respectively.
Singer Adele’s wealth has gone up a whopping 233 per cent. At 23-years-old she has sold 25 million copies of her second album worldwide, and is worth €24.5 million.
Meanwhile U2, Michael Flatley and Enya all made the list of the richest music millionaires in the UK and Ireland.
When it comes to the richest people in the world The Walton Family, who own Walmart, come out on top, with a fortune of €68.7 billion. They’re followed by Mexican telecoms giant Carlos Slim, and Microsoft’s Bill Gates at number three.
As well as calculating who has accumulated the most wealth, the Sunday Times has also taken a look at who has given the most. Topping the ‘Giving List’ is artist David Hockney, whose recent donations, mostly to the art world, come in at almost €96 million.
Notable names on the giving list include Sir Elton John, Sir Richard Branson and Simon Fuller.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say