TYCOONS

Leslie Wexner (AKA “Les” Wexner)

October 24, 2015

Worth some £5 billion, Leslie Wexner has been described as “very shy” and “certainly not the showing off type of American”. A father of four whose money was managed by Jeffrey Epstein until he...

Nicolas Berggruen (AKA “The Homeless Billionaire”)

June 22, 2015

An eternal wanderer and worth some £985 million ($1.56 billion), art collector and founder of the Berggruen Holdings, Inc. fund of hedge funds Nicolas Berggruen prefers to live in five-star hotels despite owning homes...

Sir Martin Sorrell (AKA “The Third Brother”)

June 13, 2015

Britain’s highest paid CEO in 2014 (he earned £42.98 million in a single year) Sir Martin Sorrell is the CEO of the advertising giant WPP. Born on Valentine’s Day 1945, twice married and a father...

John Pappajohn

March 7, 2015

Billionaire Des Moines venture capitalist John Pappajohn was amusingly quoted as saying “Pappa’s in the house” when he dedicated the Pappajohn Business Building at the University of Iowa. Born in Greece and married with...

Sir John Ritblat FRICS, FSVA

September 27, 2014

This twice married, Hampstead born property titan acquired British Land for £1 million in 1970 from the corporate raider Jim Slater. Sir John Ritblat is a leading patron of the arts and a gallery...

Rich Ricci

August 20, 2013

This “ebullient” American’s name is most apt. A former Barclays bank executive who likes to wear sunglasses come rain or shine, Ricci retired to a Kentish mansion at 49 and supposedly travels by private...

Richard Desmond (nicknamed “Mr Badger”)

July 28, 2013

This twice married, self-made billionaire publisher and philanthropist is a polarising force. Desmond’s portfolio has at various times included titles as diverse as the Daily Express, OK!, Asian Babes and Penthouse and this is...

Howard Raymond

April 25, 2013

He’s taken action against 16 newspapers as: “If they tell lies, I sue them” and another court case resulted in Michael Winterbottom having to change the name of a film about his father, the...

Richard Caring

November 25, 2012

Of Italian-Jewish descent, Caring is of the “supermarket-sweep” school of empire building. This billionaire started out in the rag trade but now controls the majority of the top restaurants and clubs in Central London....

Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken

November 12, 2012

She owns a controlling interest in the world’s third largest brewer and is married to the child star of Lawrence of Arabia, Michel de Carvalho. They live together in London with their five children,...

Urs Schwarzenbach

November 1, 2012

This Swiss born son of a printer has spent over £85 million buying up properties in the Henley-on-Thames area of Oxfordshire. Schwarzenbach also owns 123,000 acres in Australia, 26,000 acres in Scotland and has...

Wafic Saïd

October 24, 2012

This billionaire was born in Damascus in 1939 and declares his loves to be music, architecture, art and horse racing. His home is the £50 million neo-Georgian mansion Tusmore Park near Bicester in Oxfordshire...

James Sherwood

October 21, 2012

This Kentuckian buccaneer founded Sea Containers in 1965. He is best known though buying the Hotel Cipriani in Venice for less than £1 million “on a whim” and reviving the Venice-Simplon-Orient-Express. A true perfectionist...

Crispin Odey

September 26, 2012

He founded Odey Asset Management in 1991 and now manages some $6.2 billion of assets. This graduate of Christ Church, Oxford was first married to Rupert Murdoch’s daughter, Prudence, but after divorcing her Odey...

Vincent Tchenguiz

June 22, 2012

This Mayfair based property tycoon was born in Tehran and owns a Mangusta motor yacht named “Veni Vidi Vici” (“I came, I saw, I conquered”). His Rolls-Royce Phantom, numberplate “2V,” is often spotted outside...

Leona Helmsley (1920 – 2007)

June 17, 2012

“The Queen of Mean” was a chain-smoking hotelier and real estate tycoon with a reputation for tyrannical behaviour. She took the view that “only the little people pay taxes” but was investigated and convicted...

Gina Rinehart

May 25, 2012

Whatever she does, “The House of Hancock comes first.” This little known Australian daughter of a bush pilot and prospector is now the world’s richest woman with a worth of some £18 billion. Known...

Alan Miller

May 18, 2012

The nephew of That’s Life!’s Esther Rantzen is a financial titan and philanthropist. Miller is a founding partner and CIO of SCM Private, a Sloane Street based wealth management firm, but he's best known...

Owen Oyston

May 13, 2012

This flamboyant fedora wearing tycoon made his fortune selling an estate agency empire just before the 1987 stock market crash. He’s now worth in excess of £100 million. Married twice to a former Miss...

Sidney Frank (1919 – 2006)

April 28, 2012

A self-made billionaire, Frank was the Hugh Heffner of the booze industry. He had major successes with both Jägermeister and Grey Goose vodka. A personal profit of $1.6 billion from the sale of the...

Robert Maxwell (1923 – 1991)

April 28, 2012

“The Bouncing Czech” was variously an MP, a spy and a media mogul. Before his empire collapsed he stated: “You are as safe with me as you would be in the Bank of England.”...

Nick & Christian Candy

April 27, 2012

Started a property empire with a loan of £6,000 from their grandmother in 1995. Now said to be worth anything upto £13 billion, this pair are most famous for their One Hyde Park development...

Rupert Murdoch