Hargreaves Lansdown founders Peter Hargreaves and Stephen Lansdown have seen their collective fortunes fall £1bn over the last 12 months, according to the latest Sunday Times Rich List.
Hargreaves’ (pictured) wealth fell £646m over the year to £2.4bn despite selling more than £500m Hargreaves Lansdown shares a fortnight before the February stock market sell-off began. His remaining stake in the D2C platform is valued at £1.7bn.
Shares in the retail platform began their downwards trajectory in June last year, when the Woodford Equity Income fund that the company had championed via its Wealth 50 and multi-manager funds suspended.
Guernsey-based Lansdown has also been offloading shares in the platform, including a £170m disposal in May, according to the Sunday Times. His remaining stake in the Bristol company is valued at £648m and the paper pegs his total wealth at £1.4bn.
The duo are not alone in the hit to their fortunes. The Sunday Times says the total wealth across the 1,000-strong Rich List, which was topped by vacuum cleaner mogul Richard Dyson, fell by 3.7% to £742.6bn.
Rival platform founder Andy Bell still seeing wealth climb
Andy Bell, whose platform AJ Bell is a rival to Hargreaves Lansdown, bucked that trend with his wealth rising £8m.
Bell’s estimated wealth now sits at £368m with his holding in AJ Bell valued at £283.2m.
Crispin Odey and Jonathan Ruffer were others in the investment industry who saw their wealth increase over the last year.
Odey’s asset management business made £115m predicting the FTSE 100 would crash to 5,000 points from the coronavirus. Odey, which the Sunday Times described as one of the last few devotees in the City of the “two-bottle lunch”, has seen his personal wealth climb £50m to £825m.
Meanwhile, Ruffer, whose investment business has also performed strongly during the coronavirus sell-off, saw his wealth increase £8m to £159m.
Also, getting richer over the year was the Hoare family, behind C Hoare & Co, the UK’s oldest private bank. Their wealth increased £19m to £419m.
Fundsmith founder Terry Smith is estimated to be worth £300m, the same as last year, with the Sunday Times arguing “it is likely that all of Mauritius-based Smith’s gains over the past year have been wiped out by the shares meltdown induced by Covid-19”.
The fortune of the Fleming family, behind multi-family office Stonehage Fleming, has also stayed flat at £1.5bn.
Schroders family among the billionaires losing money
Leonie Schroder, daughter of the late Bruno Schroder, who died last year aged 86, represented the wealthiest entry on the Rich List from the investment industry.
Her wealth, combined with her family, is reported to be £4.0bn, down £42m from the same time last year.
The family has a stake of nearly 48% in Schroders worth £3.3bn.
Others whose fortunes took a hit, include Ashmore boss Mark Coombs, who lost £88m over the year to now be worth an estimated £1.4bn.
The Cayzer family, which holds 48% of investment trust Caledonia Investments, has lost its billionaire status with its wealth falling £198m to £819m.
Charles Montanaro has seen his family wealth fall £8m to £170m.
