Sir David and Victoria Beckham, and the Reform donor Christopher Harborne are among the British entrepreneurs newly recognised as billionaires in the Sunday Times Rich List.
Sir David Beckham is the UK’s first billionaire sportsman, who, alongside his fashion entrepreneur wife Victoria, has a fortune of £1.2 billion, according to the list. This is a significant increase on their estimated £500 million fortune in 2025.
The Beckhams’ fortune increased in part due to the signing of Argentinian football icon Lionel Messi to Inter Miami in 2023. Beckham holds a 26 per cent stake in the club, which saw its value rise significantly after Messi joined. The value of Victoria’s fashion business has also risen over the past year following a rise in sales.
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Reform UK’s biggest donor, business and tech investor Christopher Harborne, is also new to the list. The Thailand-based, British-born businessman, who, with an £18.2 billion fortune, is the sixth-richest person in the UK, has given at least £12 million to the Reform party, having donated £9 million in 2025 alone.
However, Harborne has been a billionaire for some time. His debut in the Sunday Times list is instead a correction of an earlier oversight, probably in light of the extensive attention he had received in the wake of his reported £5 million gift to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
Topping the list is the Hinduja family, whose £38 billion fortune was built from oil, banking and car manufacturing—the clan also owns the hotel Raffles London at the OWO. Since the passing of their father Gopi in November, brothers Sanjay and Dheeraj now head up their family’s vast business empire and have both vowed to remain in the UK.
Second on the list are property developers David and Simon Reuben, with a fortune of almost £30 billion. They initially made their fortune in commodities and have since ventured into super-prime London real estate—their company, Reuben Brothers, is currently renovating Piccadilly’s Cambridge House and Admiralty Arch, which are both soon to open as luxury hotels.
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There are 157 billionaires in the UK in 2026 according to The Sunday Times Rich List—one more than the 156 billionaires of 2025. The number of billionaires decreased by 12 per cent between 2022 and 2025; 20 left the country for reasons including the government’s non-dom tax reforms.
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Sir James Dyson has seen his family’s fortune fall from £20 billion to £12.8 billion in one year. This is due to a decline in profits at his technology company, Dyson, which was in part driven by trade tariffs introduced by US President Donald Trump.
Another billionaire with a knighthood, Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, has seen his fortune fall to £15.2 billion—£1.8 billion lower than in 2025. The past year has seen cost-cutting at the Premier League football club in which he owns a 29 per cent stake.
There are a number of UHNWs in the UK who have experienced significant financial success in the past year, however. Russian-born Revolut founder Nik Storonsky is now worth £16.4 billion, which is a £9.4 billion increase on his 2025 fortune. The rise has been driven by an increase in the valuation of his privately-held company, which has plans for an IPO. Founder of algorithmic trading firm XTX Markets, Alex Gerko – also originally from Russia – had a boost too. His fortune has almost doubled since last year, reaching £16 billion in 2026.
While some billionaires have aimed to grow their wealth, others have strived to give away as much as possible. Hedge fund manager Sir Chris Hohn donated £1.4 billion over the past year, which is 16.6 per cent of his £8.6 billion fortune. Second on the Sunday Times Giving List is Welsh-born multibillionaire Sir Michael Moritz, who once led Californian venture capital firm Sequoia Capital. Alongside his wife, he donated £628 million over the past year—11.4 per cent of his £5.5 billion fortune.
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