I just completed and ePublished in Amazon. "Zero to Billions: Anyone Can, 43 UK Self-made Billionaires: Social Mobility, Tax Dispute and Wealth of Nations".
As usual, I would stare at the data for weeks, unable to believe what I had discovered.
Here are the major surprises
1. UK has great social mobility.
86% of the billionaires in UK are self-made. 14% inherited their wealth.
This is much higher than the world average of 67% and the US average of 70%.
I was very surprised to see
The UK inheritance billionaires are such a rare breed, I am tempted to put their names here.
List of UK Inheritance Billionaires.
|
No
|
Name
|
Net Worth in Billions
|
Age
|
|
1
|
Hinduja Family
|
$14.5B
|
There are 4 members
|
|
Gerald Cavendish
Grosvenor
|
|
Just died, August 2016
|
|
2
|
Bruno Shroeder
|
$4.7B
|
83
|
|
3
|
Anthony Bamford
|
$2.4B
|
70
|
|
4
|
Sunil Vaswanu
|
$2.0B
|
53
|
|
5
|
Stephen Rubin
|
$1.93B
|
79
|
|
6
|
Ian Wood
|
$1.47B
|
74
|
|
7
|
Jonathan Hamsworth
|
$1.28B
|
48
|
Here is the complete list of UK Self-made Billionaires and there are 43
|
#
|
Name
|
Net Worth Billions
|
Age
|
Sector
|
Education
|
|
1
|
Reubens, David &
Brothers
|
$14.40
|
73
|
Real Estate
|
High School
|
|
2
|
Ratcliffe, James
|
$7.20
|
63
|
Chemical
|
BS Chemical Eng
Birmingham U
|
|
3
|
Green, Philip &
Christina
|
$5.80
|
64
|
Fashion
|
High School
|
|
4
|
Lewis, Joe
|
$5.30
|
79
|
Investment
|
High School
|
|
5
|
Branson, Richard
|
$5.10
|
66
|
Conglomerate
|
High School Dropout
|
|
6
|
Livingstone, Ian and
Richard final
|
$4.30
|
56
|
Real Estate
|
High School
|
|
7
|
Barclay, David
Federick
|
$4.90
|
82
|
Media, Retail
|
High School or Less
|
|
8
|
Graff, Lawrence
|
$4.60
|
78
|
Diamond
|
High School
|
|
9
|
Calder, Clive
|
$4.50
|
69
|
Record Label
|
High School or Less
|
|
10
|
Dyson, James
|
$4.00
|
69
|
Vacuum
|
BA Royal College of
Art
|
|
11
|
Coates, Denise
|
$3.70
|
48
|
Online Gambling
|
EDU BA(S) U of
Sheffield
|
|
12
|
Ashley, Michael
|
$3.50
|
51
|
Sportswear
|
High School
|
|
13
|
Ecclestone, Bernard
|
$3.00
|
85
|
Car Racing
|
High School Dropout
|
|
14
|
Platt, Michael
|
$3.00
|
48
|
Hedge Fund
|
BS London School of Economics
|
|
15
|
Hargreaves, Peter
|
$2.90
|
69
|
finance
|
High School, Chartered
Accountant
|
|
16
|
Whittaker, John
|
$2.70
|
74
|
Real Estate
|
High School
|
|
17
|
Zakay, Ed & Sol
|
$2.40
|
69
|
Real Estate
|
No High school
|
|
18
|
Miller, Robert
|
$2.30
|
70
|
Duty Free
|
MS Cornell U
|
|
19
|
Caudwell, John
|
$2.30
|
63
|
Mobile Phone
|
High School
|
|
20
|
Morris, Tom
|
$2.30
|
61
|
Retail
|
High School or Less
|
|
21
|
Dunstone, Charles
|
$2.20
|
51
|
Mobile Phone
|
High School
|
|
22
|
Lazari, Maritsa
|
$2.10
|
71
|
Fashion, Real Estate
|
High School
|
|
23
|
Currie, Andrew
|
$2.20
|
60
|
Chemical
|
BS Cambridge
University
|
|
24
|
Coates, John
|
$1.96
|
46
|
Online Gambling
|
Bristol University Law
|
|
25
|
Moshiri, Fardad
|
$1.91
|
61
|
oil service
|
BA University of
London Chartered Acct
|
|
26
|
Lansdown, Stephen
|
$1.90
|
64
|
finance
|
Charter Accountant
|
|
27
|
Reece, John
|
$1.80
|
69
|
Chemical
|
BS U Cambridge
|
|
28
|
Hohn,Christopher
|
$1.70
|
59
|
Hedge Fund
|
MBA Harvard
|
|
29
|
Harding, David
|
$1.50
|
54
|
Finance
|
U Cambridge
|
|
30
|
Howard, Alan
|
$1.50
|
53
|
Hedge Fund
|
MS Imperial College
London
|
|
31
|
Lo, Kenneth
|
$1.60
|
77
|
Textile
|
No High School
|
|
32
|
Schlosberg, Hilton
|
$1.57
|
63
|
Energy Drink
|
U Witwatersrand
|
|
33
|
Ashcroft, Michael
|
$1.50
|
70
|
Security
|
High School
|
|
34
|
Desmond, Richard
|
$1.50
|
64
|
Publishing
|
High School Dropout
|
|
35
|
Singh, Jasminder
|
$1.45
|
65
|
Hotel
|
High School..
Accountant
|
|
36
|
Coombs, Mark
|
$1.40
|
55
|
finance
|
MA U Cambridge
|
|
37
|
Dixon, Mark
|
$1.30
|
57
|
Office Real Estate
|
High School Dropout at
age 16
|
|
38
|
Langley, Anthony
|
$1.27
|
61
|
Manufacturing
|
High School
|
|
39
|
Maskintosh, Cameroon
|
$1.20
|
69
|
music theatre
|
High School
|
|
40
|
Asfari, Ayman
|
$1.10
|
57
|
oil service
|
MBA U Wharton
|
|
41
|
Ibrahim, Mohammed
|
$1.10
|
70
|
Telecom
|
PhD Electrical
Engineering, Birmingham University
|
|
42
|
Kataria, Raghuvinck
|
$1.10
|
67
|
diversified
|
High School or Less
|
|
43
|
Bloor , John
|
$1.03
|
73
|
Real Estate
|
No High School
|
|
|
$123.56
|
$2,700.00
|
|
|
|
average
|
$2.9
|
62.87
|
|
|
2. Of the top 10 richest self-made billionaires in UK, 6 are Jewish. Overall the Jewish population made up less than 1% of UK population.
3. More than 50% of UK Self-made Billionaires have high school or less education.
I could not believe my eyes. Growing up in Hong Kong, I was taught the elite in UK consist of Oxford University and Cambridge University graduate. But in the real world, the high school graudates are doing much better.
So, if you want to be the big boss like Richard Branson, Philip Green and Bernie Ecclestone, skip university.
4. UK also has great diversity.
Overall, 3 Muslims made self-made billionaires, 3 women made the list too, 2 Indians, 1 Sudanese, 1 Maltese, 1 from Hong Kong, and even 1 from USA. In short, everyone gets a chance to be self-made billionaire in UK.
My curiosity is: why are there so many angry Brits. Their tax is high, the minimum wage of UK is higher than the minimum wage in US and there is greater social mobility there.
