The Sunday Times Rich List has been announced - revealing a long list of North West entrepreneurs who have grown their fortunes during the pandemic.
The list reveals that there are now a record 171 billionaires in the 海角视频, with Ukranian-born Sir Leonard Blavatnik topping the pile as the richest person in the country.
With North West firms such as The Hut Group, EG Group, Boohoo and B&M having seen great success during lockdown, North West names feature throughout the .
Robert Watts, compiler of the rich list, said: “The global pandemic created lucrative opportunities for many online retailers, social networking apps and computer games tycoons.
“The fact many of the super-rich grew so much wealthier at a time when thousands of us have buried loved ones and millions of us worried for our livelihoods makes this a very unsettling boom.”
Here are the North West individuals and groups included in the annual list:
The 7th Duke of Westminster, Hugh Grosvenor
Net worth: £10.054bn
Rank: 12
Most Read
The baby-faced seventh Duke of Westminster is the richest man in the North West.
He inherited the extraordinary fortune when his father Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor passed away in 2016.
Most of the Grosvenor family's wealth comes from 300 acres of land and property in Belgravia and Mayfair.
Sign up for more business news straight to your inbox
Stay up to date with our daily newsletter, email breaking news alerts and weekly round-ups. To sign up, find out more and see all of our newsletters, follow the link here
Michael Platt
Net worth: £8bn
Rank: 18
Born in Preston, Michael Platt is a billionaire hedge fund manager - and co-founder of BlueCrest Capital Management.
Don’t miss
He spent a decade at JP Morgan before launching BlueCrest, which last year posted a 95% gain.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe
Net worth: £6.33bn
Rank: 25
Born in Failsworth, Lancashire, and the son of a joiner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe is the chairman and CEO of Ineos chemicals group.
Previously listed at number one in the list, he is now placed at 25.
Mohsin and Zuber Issa
Net worth: £4.68bn
Ranked: 37
Billionaire brother Mohsin and Zuber Issa - owner of EG Group and Asda - have had something of a whirlwind 12 months.
built up their fortune from a single petrol filling station in Bury, Greater Manchester, that was bought for £150,000.
The Blackburn brothers last month bought fast food chain Leon. They are reportedly close to agreeing a takeover deal for Caffe Nero too, and have just taken a stake in sportswear brand Castore.
Tom Morris and family
Net worth: £4.361bn
Ranked: 40
Liverpool businessman Tom Morris started the now-huge discount retail chain Home Bargains when he was in his early 20s - back in 1976.
It now has hundreds of stores 海角视频-wide, employing tens of thousands of staff, with the single-biggest presence in his native Merseyside.
The firm is owned by Mr Morris' company TJ Morris.
Simon, Bobby and Robin Arora
Net worth: £2.524bn
Rank: 64
Simon, Bobby and Robin Arora are the brothers behind B&M - the Merseyside-based discount retail giant that is now a familiar site in town centres and retail parks the length and breadth of the 海角视频.
Having bought the struggling 21-store firm in 2005, it now boasts over 700 sites, with annual sales having topped £4bn this year.
Peter Hargreaves
Net worth: £2.41bn
Rank: 69
Peter Hargreaves co-founded financial services firm Hargreaves Lansdown back in 1981.
Born in Clitheroe, Lancashire, he is also a partner at Blue Whale Capital.
Matt and Jodie Moulding
Net worth: £2.1bn
Ranked: 78
Matt Moulding is founder and CEO of successful Manchester-based The Hut Group.
Last month, the Manchester-headquartered e-commerce giant confirmed that its revenue surged to more than £1.6bn during its latest financial year in what has been called a "milestone" period for the firm, which also saw it rack up losses of more than £500m.
Farhad Moshiri
Net worth: £2bn
Ranked: 82
Iranian billionaire Farhad Moshiri is most powerful man at Everton after buying a 49.9% stake in the Blues. The 60-year-old became the largest shareholder in the Goodison outfit, after months of speculation about a potential takeover.
Mahmud Kamani, Boohoo
Net worth: £1.422bn
Ranked: 118
Mahmud Kamani, 56, and his family's stake in online fashion giant Boohoo is worth around £1bn.
From booming sales to allegations of modern slavery to buying up household brands Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins and Burton, the Manchester-based firm has not been far from the headlines for the past 12 months.
Mike Danson
Net worth: £1.408bn
Ranked: 119
Born in Wigan, Mike Danson is the owner of the New Statesman magazine, and last year took a stake in the Wigan Warriors Rugby League team.
John Whittaker
Net worth: £1.4bn
Ranked: 120
Born in Bury, John Whittaker is chairman of the Peel Group, the property company with most of its interests in the North West.
Fred and Peter Done
Net worth: £1.235bn
Ranked: 137
Born and raised in Manchester, Fred Done is CEO of bookmaker Betfred.
While he stepped down from the firm in 2021, he remains chairman. The firm has over 1,600 sites across the 海角视频.
Lord Grantchester
Net worth: £1.2bn
Ranked: 138
Christopher John Suenson-Taylor, 3rd Baron of Grantchester, is a dairy farmer, politician and former director of Everton.
The grandson of John Moores, his family also founded the Liverpool-based Littlewoods football pools.
A Labour peer, he was also director of Everton until 2000.
Henry Moser
Net worth: £1.102bn
Ranked: 156
Henry Moser is founder and owner of Cheadle-based Together Financial Services.
He grew up in Bury and at 16, became a car salesman, before founding Together in 1974.
Steve Morgan
Net worth: £881m
Ranked: 185
Liverpool-based Steve Morgan is founder of the housebuilder Redrow plc and former chairman of Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Sir Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell
Net worth: £820m
Ranked: 196
Beatles icon Sir Paul McCartney remains in the list's top 250, with the Liverpool legend set to release a book later this year "tracing his life through his songs".
Peter Green
Net worth: £805m
Ranked: 201
Peter Green, who is from Manchester, married mining tycoon Harold Mitchell's daughter, and took over when she died in 1985.
Chris Oglesby
Net worth: £696m
Ranked: 228
Chris Oglesby is CEO of property firm Bruntwood, which earlier this year reported a "strong and resilient" 2020.
Bill, Will and Richard Ainscough and family
Net worth: £688m
Ranked: 229
Bill Ainscough and his sons Will and Richard own property businesses Wainhomes and Network Space.