Failsworth-born Sir Jim Ratcliffe loses over £6bn, but remains third richest in the country
Date published: 17 May 2024
Sir Jim Ratcliffe grew up on a council estate in Failsworth, but didn’t start Ineos until his forties
Failsworth-born Sir Jim Ratcliffe is the richest person in north-west, according to this year’s edition of The Sunday Times Rich List.
The list has been published today (Friday) online at: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/sunday-times-rich-list and will be in the print edition of the newspaper on Sunday, May 19.
The 76-page special edition of The Sunday Times Magazine reveals the largest fall in the billionaire count in the guide’s 36-year history, from a peak of 177 in 2022 to 165 this year.
This year’s list of 350 individuals and families together hold combined wealth of £795.361 billion - a sum larger than the annual GDP of Poland.
Sir Elton John, Lord Lloyd-Webber and David and Victoria Beckham all appear in the annual survey.
The minimum entry for the list of 350 this year is £350 million.
Despite Sir Jim losing over £6 billion this year, he still remains the richest in the north-west, with nearly double the wealth of runner-up, Michael Platt.
Ratcliffe recently ran the London Marathon at the age of 71, proving once again that he is in it for the long run.
Sir Jim grew up on a council estate in Failsworth, but didn’t start Ineos until his forties.
Early this year, he also secured a 25 percent stake of his childhood football club, Manchester United.
The Duke of Westminster, who recently announced his move to Cheshire, retains his position as the richest person under 40 in the UK, after he inherited his title and a vast land and property portfolio when he was 25.
At the age of 33 the billionaire’s fortune now stands at £10.127 billion.
Coined as the ‘UK’s most eligible bachelor’ the Duke will marry Olivia Henson, 31, at Chester Cathedral next month.
The Duke is one of the few young people who also appear on the full Rich List.
Robert Watts, compiler of the Sunday Times Rich List, said: “This year’s Sunday Times Rich List suggests Britain’s billionaire boom has come to an end.
"Many of our home-grown entrepreneurs have seen their fortunes fall and some of the global super rich who came here are moving away.
“Thousands of British livelihoods rely on the super-rich to some extent.
"We’ll have to wait and see whether we have now reached peak billionaire, and what that means for our economy.
“These may be harder times to create wealth, but The Sunday Times Rich List continues to unearth entrepreneurs building fortunes in diverse and often surprising ways.
"This year’s new entries include people who have made money from artificial intelligence and virtual worlds as well as plumbing supplies and teaching aides.
“We know many of our readers find such people - especially those from humbler backgrounds - very inspiring.”
Sir Jim Ratcliffe lived in Failsworth until the age of 10 when his family moved to East Yorkshire.
He went to Beverley Grammar School, studied chemical engineering at Birmingham University, and gained an MBA from London Business School, according to a Financial Times profile.
His father, who was a joiner, went on to run a factory that made laboratory furniture, while his mother worked in an accounts office.
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