Sir James Dyson remains the wealthiest person in the South West, has revealed – while energy entrepreneur Stephen Fitzpatrick and the founders of Hargreaves Lansdown have seen their wealth soar.
The latest edition of the world-famous list shows the Dyson founder and his family’s wealth is valued at £20.8bn – unchanged on last year.
Sir James remains one of Britain’s best-known inventors, coming up with the first idea for a new model vacuum cleaner in 1979 and growing his business into one of the world’s biggest household goods firms.
Dyson employs more than 3,000 people at its campus in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. Earlier this year it announced plans to move its Bristol staff to Malmesbury – despite recently investing £100m in a tech hub in the city.
The full Sunday Times Rich List will be published in a 76-page special edition of The Sunday Times Magazine this Sunday .
Other South West entrepreneurs in the list include Stephen Fitzpatrick, founder of OVO Energy, who has risen to 54th place in the national list and to 2nd place in the South West.
The Sunday Times says he’s now worth £3.073bn – up a huge £2.239bn on last year’s figure. In January, Ovo Energy secured its brand from Mr Fitzpatrick in a deal valued at £150m.
Meanwhile Peter Hargreaves saw his wealth jump after the sale of Hargreaves Lansdown in 2024. His wealth is now valued at £2.3bn, up £457m on last year.
Hargreaves Lansdown co-founder Steve Lansdown’s wealth is valued at £1.25bn, up £82m on last year. He is founder of Bristol Sport and majority owner of Bristol City and Bristol Bears.
is compiled by Robert Watts and edited by Helen Davies, with researchers looking at “identifiable wealth” including land, property, assets such as art and racehorses, or significant shares in publicly quoted companies. It excludes private bank accounts. The paper says this year sees the largest fall in the billionaire count in the guide’s 37-year history, from a peak of 177 in 2022 to 156 this year.
Mr Watts said: “The Sunday Times Rich List is changing. Our billionaire count is down and the combined wealth of those who feature in our research is falling. We are also finding fewer of the world’s super rich are coming to live in the Ƶ.
“This year we were also struck by the strength of criticism for Rachel Reeves’s Treasury. We expected the abolition of non-dom status would anger affluent people from overseas. But homegrown young tech entrepreneurs and those running centuries-old family firms are also warning of serious consequences to a range of tax changes unveiled in last October’s budget.
“Our research continues to find a wide variety of self-made entrepreneurs building fortunes not just from artificial intelligence, video games and new technologies but also mundane, everyday items such as makeup, radiators and jogging bottoms. We know many of our readers find these people and their stories inspiring — especially the many who had tough starts or setbacks to their lives and careers.”
