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Warner Music owner tops the Rich List
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 27 April 2015
Warner Music owner Len Blavatnik is at the top of the Sunday Times’ latest list of rich Brits, which is pretty good going for a Ukrainian-born American. According to the latest Rich List from the Sunday paper, Blavatnik – at number four in the annual parade of fat cats last year – has seen his fortune grow to £13.17 billion, putting him ahead of 2014’s richest, Sri and Gopi Hinduja. And there’s two of them, so they cheated anyway.
Blavatnik’s Access Industries acquired Warner Music in 2011, of course, extending the media interests of a conglomerate that is also active in real estate, natural resources and tech.
According to the Times, the Access mogul is also a keen art collector, and he spent £9 million last year on Damien Hirst’s gold-plated mammoth. And with that in mind, I’m now hoping to combine Lenny’s business and personal interests by selling him a fine little portrait of Warner Music’s gold-plated cash cow Ed Sheeran, which I completed just this morning. I’ll tweet it later so Blavatnik can make his bid.
As for actual music makers (and Michael Flatley, for some reason), here’s the list of the richest according to the Sunday Times’ loot-counters…
1. Paul McCartney & Nancy Shevell (£730m)
2. Andrew Lloyd-Webber (£650m)
3. U2 (£431m)
4. Elton John (£270m)
5. Mick Jagger (£225m)
6. Keith Richards (£210m)
7. Michael Flatley (£195m)
=8. Ringo Starr (£180m)
=8. Sting (£180m)
10. Roger Waters (£160m)
11. Eric Clapton (£155m)
=12. Tom Jones (£150m)
=12. Tim Rice (£150m)
=12. Rod Stewart (£150m)
=15. David Bowie & Iman Abdulmajid (£135m)
=15. Robbie Williams (£135m)
17. Ozzy & Sharon Osbourne (£130m)
=18. Phil Collins (£110m)
=18. Brian May (£110m)
=18. Charlie Watts (£110m)
=21. George Michael (£105m)
=21. Roger Taylor (£105m)
=23. Jimmy Page (£100m)
=23. Robert Plant (£100m)
=25. Enya (£90m)
=25. David Gilmour (£90m)
27. John Deacon (£85m)
28. Noel & Liam Gallagher (£77m)
29. Nick Mason (£75m)
=30. Calvin Harris (£70m)
=30. Mark Knopfler (£70m)
=30. Pete Townshend (£70m)
=33. Gary Barlow (£65m)
=33. Engelbert Humperdinck (£65m)
=35. Barry Gibb (£60m)
=35. John Paul Jones (£60m)
=37. Kylie Minogue (£55m)
=37. Cliff Richard (£55m)
=39. Guy Berryman (£52m)
=39. Jonny Buckland (£52m)
=39. Will Champion (£52m)
=39. Chris Martin (£52m)
UPDATE 27 Apr, 14.30: Chris’ picture of Ed Sheeran has now been tweeted. We await Len Blavatnik’s bid.
