Sunday Times Rich List 2024: Issa brothers and secretive Preston man among Lancashire's wealthiest people

Jon Macpherson

17 May 2024 at 6:33 am·2-min read

The Sunday Times Rich List for 2024 has been announced and it includes some VERY wealthy people from Lancashire.

Published today (May 17), the list reveals the wealth of the 350 richest individuals and families in Britain. Some fortunes have grown massively despite the ongoing cost of living crisis.

However, the 76-page special edition of The Sunday Times Magazine also reveals a drop in the number of billionaires for the second year running from 171 to 165. The number of billionaires peaked at 177 in 2022.

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The billionaire Hinduja family has topped the list for the third year in a row as its fortune jumped by more than £2 billion. Gopi Hinduja and his family are behind the Indian conglomerate Hinduja Group

Michael Platt, from Preston, is the second richest person in the North West behind Manchester United investor Sir Jim Ratcliffe. The 56-year-old is the co-founder and managing director of BlueCrest Capital Management.

LancsLive reported last month how he's so secretive that even his own receptionist doesn't know who he is - allegedly. He previously said he owes a lot of his success to his grandmother who he once described as a "serious equity trader."

Blackburn brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa, of the EG Group and Asda, are worth £5bn. The are the fifth wealthiest people in the region, however the rankings say that the Issas have lost £50m this year.

Elsewhere in the North West, in third are Cheshire-based The Duke of Westminster and the Grosvenor family, owners of property business Grosvenor Group, who are worth £10.127bn. Home Bargains boss Tom Morris and family from Liverpool are fourth, with £6.673bn.

Robert Watts, compiler of the rich list, said: "This year’s Sunday Times Rich List suggests Britain’s billionaire boom has come to an end. Many of our home-grown entrepreneurs have seen their fortunes fall and some of the global super rich who came here are moving away.

"Thousands of British livelihoods rely on the super-rich to some extent. We’ll have to wait and see whether we have now reached peak billionaire, and what that means for our economy."

THE SUNDAY TIMES RICH LIST 2024 – THE 5 WEALTHIEST IN NORTHWEST

Rank	Name	Source of Wealth	2024 Wealth	Rise/Fall
1	Sir Jim Ratcliffe	Chemicals: Ineos	£23.519bn	Down £6.169bn
2	Michael Platt	Hedge fund: BlueCrest Capital	£12bn	Up £500m
3	The Duke of Westminster and the Grosvenor family	Property: Grosvenor Group	£10.127bn	Up £249m
4	Tom Morris and family	Discount stores: Home Bargains	£6.673bn	Up £540m
5	Mohsin and Zuber Issa	Fuel distribution and supermarkets: EG Group and Asda	£5bn	Down £50m

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