LONDON (Reuters) – The number of billionaires in Britain has fallen in 2025, The Sunday Times said on Friday in its annual compilation of the country’s richest people, adding that it was the biggest drop in billionaires since the list began in 1989.
The newspaper’s Rich List 2025 was topped by businessman Gopi Hinduja, 85, and family, for the fourth straight year, with a fortune of 35 billion pounds ($46.5 billion).
David and Simon Reuben and family, part owners of soccer team Newcastle, were second with a fortune of 26.87 billion pounds, while businessman Leonard Blavatnik was next with 25.73 billion pounds, the list showed.
The list had 156 billionaires, lower than the 165 in 2024. The 2025 decline continues a trend seen in recent years.
Stock market turbulence in a period marked by U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs led to the net worth of some individuals with stakes in public companies falling significantly.
The findings also come at a time when the strength of the Labour government’s relationship with Britain’s business community and ultra wealthy is under intense pressure over revenue-raising tax changes.
The paper cited the end of a ‘non-dom’ tax exemption for wealthy foreigners, or non-domiciled residents, as a possible reason for the decline in billionaires.
Billionaires who featured in last year’s list and were missing from the 2025 edition included French luxury goods magnate Francois-Henri Pinault and his Hollywood actress wife Salma Hayek, the Fayeds, who owned London department store Harrods, and South African-born diamond billionaire Nicky Oppenheimer.
The list showed King Charles’ wealth grew by 30 million pounds to 640 million pounds, taking his rank 20 places higher to 258 in the 350-member list. Former prime minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty were also at 238th place on the list.
With a fortune of 363 million pounds, U.S. chat show host Ellen DeGeneres was a new entrant to the list, having recently moved to the picturesque Costwolds region of southern England.
($1 = 0.7526 pounds)
(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar; editing by William James)
