Povlsen’s wealth soars by £1bn as billionaire numbers fall

His net worth is now estimated at £7.704bn, after a significant jump of £974 million in the last year.

Media and television personality Georgia Toffolo, who is married to BrewDog entrepreneur James Watt, ranked top in Scotland for the richest under 40 category with a wealth of £425m.

The 76-page special edition of The Sunday Times Magazine reveals 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. The number of billionaires has dropped for three successive years – but this year’s decline is the sharpest yet.

This year’s list of 350 individuals and families together hold combined wealth of £772.8bn – 3% down on last year. Sir Elton John, Lord Lloyd-Webber, Sir Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Euan Blair, Sir Lewis Hamilton and Sir Christopher Nolan all appear in the annual survey. The combined wealth in the 37th annual edition is £772.8bn – a sum larger than the annual GDP of Switzerland.

The minimum entry level flatlines at £350 million – another indicator of a subdued year.

Robert Watts, compiler of the Sunday Times Rich List, 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 UK.

“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.”