Wealthiest people in Britain are not British

April 28, 2008 on 6:47 pm | Friedrich Braun | Business & Industry , Economics & Finance , Economy | | Email This Post | Print this Post

The following news story, attributed to the Associated Press, was printed on page A5 of the Monday, 28 April 2008 edition of the Arizona Republic.

WEALTH ROSE 15% IN ‘07 FOR RICHEST BRITONS

Half Of Its Billionaires Born Outside Country

London–The collective wealth of Britain’s 1,000 richest people went up
by nearly 15 percent last year, and more than half of the country’s 75
billionaires are foreign-born, according to a list published by the
Sunday Times newspaper.

The newspaper’s annual Rich List ranked steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal as
Britain’s wealthiest man for the fourth year running.

It put the Indian-born tycoon’s fortune at 27.7 billion pounds, or $55
billion, up about 8 billion pounds from last year.

“Russian” [quotations added –K.W.] oil magnate Roman Abramovich, owner
of London’s Chelsea soccer team, was in second place, with wealth of
11.7 billion pounds, or $23.2 billion.

The Duke of Westminster was in third place with 7 billion pounds, or
$14 billion. The Briton owns huge parcels of land in central London
and elsewhere.

The newspaper said more than half of Britain’s 75 billionaires,
including 14 of the 20 richest people,a re foreign-born.

Queen Elizabeth II, the country’s richest person when the Rich List was
first published in 1989, now ranks 164th, with a personal wealth of 320
million pounds ($640 million).

The estimate no longer includes the vast royal art collection, which is
now considered to belong to the nation.

Philip Beresford, who compiled the list, said “much of the rise in this
year’s wealth can be attributed to one factor: the number of foreign
rich who have made London or its environs the main home and base of
operation.”

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