(London) Ex-Beatles Paul McCartney has entered the billionaires’ club, becoming the first British musician to amass such a fortune, according to the annual ranking of the Sunday Times which confirms the downward trend in the number of billionaires in the United Kingdom.
According to this ranking of the 350 greatest fortunes in the country unveiled on Friday, Paul McCartney, 82, rises to 165e place, reaping the fruits of his multiple concerts and his royalties.
This year he also received a little help from the American singer Beyoncé, who covered the song on her latest album Blackbird of the Beatles.
In total, according to the “ Rich List ” of Sunday Timesthe United Kingdom totals 165 billionaires, six less than last year, and 12 less than the record reached in 2022, with 177 billionaires, prompting the newspaper to point out that “it seems that […] the rich of the world are starting to leave” the country.
Among the reasons given by the newspaper is the tax level 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 to £795.3 billion, due to rising interest rates, inflation and a sluggish economy.
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, rank 245e place, with a fortune of 651 million pounds.
King Charles III is not far behind, at 258e 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.