Crossing the street (with three friends) ends up paying off. According to the annual ranking of the Sunday Times, revealed this Friday, the former – or eternal – Beatles Paul McCartney has entered the billionaires’ club, becoming the first British musician to amass such wealth.
“Sir Paul” also received a little boost this year from American singer Beyoncé, who covered the Beatles’ song Blackbird on her latest album.
“The rich of the world are starting to leave”
In the ranking of the 350 greatest fortunes in the country, Paul McCartney, 82, rises to 165th place, reaping the fruits of his multiple concerts and his royalties. In total, according to the “Rich List” of Sunday Times, the United Kingdom has a total of 165 billionaires. This is six less than last year, however, and twelve less than the record, reached in 2022, with 177 billionaires, which pushes the newspaper to emphasize “that it seems that (…) the rich of the world are starting from » the country.
Among the reasons given by the Sunday Times figure the level of tax which has increased in recent years or the lost luster of the London Stock Exchange which attracts less capital. The combined wealth of the country’s 350 richest people also fell slightly, from 796.5 billion pounds (929 billion euros) to 795.3 billion (927.7 billion euros), due to rising interest rates, inflation and a sluggish economy.
Charles III, “only” 258th
At the top of the ranking is still the family of Gopi Hinduja, owner of a conglomerate in finance, energy and tech, with a fortune estimated at 37 billion pounds. She is ahead of Leonard Blavatnik and his 29.2 billion pounds, who controls Warner Music Group or the music platform Deezer, who is second ahead of businessmen Simon and David Reuben (24.9 billion).
Prime Minister and former investment banker Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty, heiress to the founder of Indian technology giant Infosys, are ranked 245th, with a fortune of 651 million pounds. King Charles III is not far behind, in 258th place, with 610 million pounds, the Sunday Times specifying that he had made a cautious assessment of the sovereign’s fortune, excluding in particular the assets he owned as monarch such as the Duchy of Lancaster or the Crown Estate.
Among the new entrants in the ranking are F1 driver Lewis Hamilton and the son of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, Euan Blair, co-founder of Multiverse, a tech company which develops learning in companies.