I
n an elegant penthouse high above London’s
rooftops, a billionaire has a quandary.
“I was off ered more than £200m for this
building a few weeks ago,” he says nonchalantly,
as we look out over the glittering Thames below.
“What do you think — should I sell?”
“Depends on how badly you need £200m,”
I could have coughed. But fortunately I didn’t.
Only a few minutes later, this calm,
unassuming man shows me two bank
statements on his Samsung phone. One
account has a “portfolio balance” with a well-
known bank of more than £700m. The second
statement shows an even greater sum in euros.
No, he doesn’t “need” another £200m. Surreal exchanges such as th is are as much a part
of compiling The Sunday Times Rich List as the daily
trudge through the mass of company accounts and
shareholder fi lings. These conversations give an
intriguing insight into how Britain’s wealthiest
individuals and families live, what makes them tick
and what keeps them awake at night.
Last year I inherited the mantle of compiling
The Sunday Times Rich List from Philip Beresford ,
who had performed this role since its inception.
Today’s is the 29th annual edition.
Beresford, a reformed trainspotter who wrote his
PhD on the birth of the modern-day IRA , initially
cooked up the idea of the Rich List while working
for a diff erent newspaper during the mid-1980s.4 • thesundaytimes.co.uk/richlistHIGH
SOCIETY
Robert Watts, our new compiler of
the Rich List, reports on his fi rst year
assessing the wealth of our richest 1,000.
He fi nds their problems and worries are
little diff erent from yours — just with
a few extra zeros on the end
Rich List 2017