THE rise in the cost of living may be squeezing household budgets and leaving many of us counting down to payday, but there are still a select few Channel Islanders who are doing all right for themselves…
The Sunday Times Rich List, sections of which have been published today, has revealed that the Barclay family remain the wealthiest islanders, with £6.418 billion to their name.
And despite Sir Frederick Barclay being ordered to pay £100 million to his wife and £1million to his lawyers in the last few years following an acrimonious divorce case, the family’s wealth still increased by £213 million in 2022.
The family, who built a mock-Gothic castle on the small island of Brecqhou in the 1990s and made their money in hotels and media, have regularly topped the Channel Islands’ rich list.
Glenn Gordon and his family, the owners of whisky distillery William Grant & Sons, were named the richest in Jersey and the second-richest in the Channel Islands, with a fortune of £4.607 billion — up £1.212 billion from last year.
Guernsey residents Douw Steyn and his family, whose price comparison site Comparethemarket made meerkats synonymous with insurance, have kept their wealth of £2.1 billion and were ranked third-richest in the islands.
Jersey-based Chris and Sarah Dawson, who own the discount retailer The Range, were fourth with £2.025 billion – down £225 million on the previous year.
And Simon Nixon, a Jersey-based entrepreneur who founded the price comparison site Moneysupermarket, may perhaps be looking to his own website for money-saving tips, after losing £100 million last year. But he is still worth £1.825 billion.
Robert Watts, who compiles the Rich List, said that nationally the ‘golden period for the super-rich is over’.
He added: ‘For the first time in 14 years we’ve seen the number of UK billionaires fall.
‘Two years ago we raised concerns about an unsettling boom in the fortunes of the very wealthy that continued unchecked during the political instability around Brexit and the pandemic.
‘This is not a crash – but there are household names who have lost vast sums over the past year.
‘The bursting of the tech bubble, the end of rock-bottom interests and the jitters creeping through the banking industry have all taken their toll.
‘The super-rich don’t exist in a vacuum.
‘Many small investors lost money in some of their overblown stock market floats.
‘Many people also work for their businesses. Financial losses for billionaires can have implications for us all.’
The full list will be published in the Sunday Times this weekend.
