THERE are now five billionaires based or born in Wales, according to The Sunday Times Rich List 2016 – the definitive guide to wealth in Britain and Ireland – to be published this weekend.
Top of the Welsh Rich List is Cardiffborn Sir Michael Moritz, who shares a £1.95bn fortune with his wife Harriet Heyman. Moritz, a California-based venture capitalist, was an early investor in Apple, PayPal and Google, an early £8m stake in the latter being worth £6.3bn at its peak.
He is a partner in Sequoia Capital, in Silicon Valley.
Moritz and his American wife Heyman donated $50m to her alma mater, the University of Chicago, this year to fund bursaries for students in economic need. This follows a £75m donation in 2012 to Oxford University – his alma mater – for a similar purpose.
Llanelli-born Douglas Perkins and his wife Dame Mary and their family have added £100m to their wealth in the past year and now stand at £1.55bn. They met at Cardiff University and later founded Specsavers. Sales exceeded £2bn for the first time in 2014-15, with earnings from Europe, Australia and New Zealand accounting for almost half the business. They live on Guernsey and their three children hold senior positions in the firm, which is worth £1.5bn.
Simon Nixon, who co-founded Moneysupermarket.com in Flintshire in 1999, sold the last of his shares in the business last month. He has earned £551m from share sales since the business was floated. With properties valued at £310m and stock market investments worth £490m, Nixon has achieved billionaire status for the first time this year, valued at £1.026bn. Resident in Jersey, Nixon also runs a luxury holiday homes business called Simon Escapes.
Another newcomer to the billionaires club is David Sullivan. The co-owner of West Ham United was born in Cardiff and graduated in economics from the University of London before embarking on his business career. He is a seasoned property investor and there are more than £414m of net assets in three of his operations. His main company, Conegate, showed more than £133m net assets in 2014 but he has a portfolio worth £300m. Asset sales underpin his £1bn fortune.
The fifth billionaire in Wales is Sir Terry Matthews, who is spearheading the regeneration of Swansea as chairman of the Swansea Bay City Region. The 72-year-old owns the Celtic Manor Resort which saw profits hit £5.1m in 2014. After university in Wales, Sir Terry went to Canada and made his fortune first with a telecoms company and then with Newbridge Networks, from which he collected £1bn for his stake when it was sold. With wealth put at £1.012bn this year, he is down £28m on last year.
Steve Morgan could become the country’s sixth billionaire next year if his wealth continues to grow at the present rate. Morgan founded and later floated the Flintshire-based Redrow construction business. He has a stake in the £1.5bn concern worth £605m. Morgan, 63, stepped down as chairman of Wolverhampton Wanderers football club and put his 100% shareholding up for sale last September. His overall fortune is up £140m this year to stand at £880m.
The man behind the Mountain Warehouse chain of outdoor clothing and equipment stores, Mark Neale, is the new entry to the Welsh Rich List, worth £170m. Neale, who was born in Ebbw Vale, opened his first Mountain Warehouse in Swindon in 1997 using £40,000 of his savings. It took him 10 years to make the business profitable but it now has more than 200 stores stretching from Poland to North America. The company saw a 28.6% rise in sales over Christmas. Neale, who owns 85% of the business, is looking at a £200m flotation.
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