There are now 53 British billionaires

Press Association

Updated 3 March 2015 at 3:00 am·2-min read

Undated handout photo issued by Forbes of the front cover of 2015's Forbes World's Billionaires issue featuring Minecraft creator Markus Persson, whose fortune rose to 1.3 billion US dollars this year. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Monday March 2, 2015. The number of British billionaires on the 2015 Forbes rich list has risen to 53, up six from last year. Newcomers include Speedo brand owner Stephen Rubin, with a net worth of three billion US dollars, Monster energy drinks boss Hilton Schlosberg and The Range homewear owner Chris Dawson. See PA story MONEY Forbes. Photo credit should read: Forbes/PA WireNOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.

The number of British billionaires on the Forbes rich list has risen to 53, up six from last year.

Newcomers include Speedo brand owner Stephen Rubin, with a net worth of 3 billion US dollars (£1.95 billion), Monster energy drinks boss Hilton Schlosberg and The Range homewear owner Chris Dawson.

Other British newcomers include retailer Tom Morris, property mogul Christos Lazari and textiles boss Kenneth Lo.

The Hinduja brothers are the wealthiest Britons on the list with a net worth of 15 billion US dollars (£9.76 billion).

The magazine said it calculated each person's wealth based on stock prices and exchange rates on February 13.

The number of Russian billionaires on the list plummeted from 111 to 28, and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko also dropped out, in the wake of controversial military intervention.

In total 138 people dropped off the list while 19 died.

The biggest loser worldwide was Nigerian tycoon Aliko Dangote, who saw his fortune drop from a net worth of 25 billion US dollars (£16.26 billion) to 14.7 billion dollars (£9.56 billion).

There was also a record number of 197 women on the list, up from 172 last year.

They include Walmart's Christy and Alice Walton, L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt and the chocolate industry's Jacqueline Mars.

The average net worth of a 2015 billionaire was 3.86 billion US dollars (£2.51 billion), down 60 million dollars from last year.

The front cover of the 2015 Forbes World's Billionaires issue features Minecraft creator Markus Persson, whose fortune rose to 1.3 billion US dollars (£845 million) this year.

<p>Klass is worth £11 million. She was an early winner in the pop competition phenomenon. The classical musician took part in Popstars in 2001, where she took the title as a member of Hear’Say. The win brought her £1 million immediately, but the band only lasted two years. She was snapped up after the band split, but had limited success as a solo pop artist.</p>

<p><br />
Her second big break, however, came when she appeared in I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here in 2006 and took an array of small bikinis with her. She subsequently balanced modelling with a return to classical music. And since then had delved into an incredible array of enterprises, ranging from designing a range of baby clothes for Mothercare to presenting Loose Women and hosting a show on Classic FM.</p>

<p>Lewis is worth £13 million. She became the third winner of the X-Factor in 2006, and is currently the second richest act to emerge from the show. She has now produced four studio albums, and sold 20 million copies. Some of her money-making potential may lie in the fact that she was mentored for seven years by Simon Cowell.</p>

<p><br />
She hasn’t made a vast amount of money in projects beyond her music, although she has a line of accessories, a very successful perfume, and is a face of The Body Shop. She also made her film debut this year in Walking on Sunshine.</p>

<p>The band is worth £14 Million (each). It’s no surprise to see this global phenomenon on the list, and it’s worth remembering that one of the reasons they are not higher up it is that they only shot to fame on X Factor in 2010. The boys famously auditioned as solo acts, but made the cut after being brought together by Simon Cowell as a supergroup.</p>

<p><br />
Their money-making comes partly through the music, including selling 45 million records, £270 million of tour ticket sales, and a box office smash hit movie. They have also taken merchandise to the next level. Their range includes bedding, lipstick, perfume, hats, bags, dresses, jewellery, shoes, a onesie, glasses, dolls, shot glasses, nail varnish, cushions, headphones and mobile phone covers - and every item is an enormous hit because they have generated one of the most loyal fan bases in pop’s living memory.</p>

The first ever winner of American Idol in 2002 is worth £16 million. She has now released six best-selling albums and completed three world tours. The majority of her wealth is said to come from record sales - of which she has sold 20 million. She’s expecting to release another album at the beginning of next year, so she’s unlikely to run short of cash any time soon.

<p>The artist now known as Cheryl Fernandez-Versini is worth £16 million. She was part of the reality girl group Girls Aloud, which won ITV’s Pop Stars: The Rivals in 2002. Within the group she amassed £6 million after selling four million albums over seven years, but the rest of her fortune has been built up through an array of projects since.</p>

<p>Her solo career has included three hit albums, modelling contacts with the likes of L’Oreal and Coca-Cola Zero, judging on The X Factor (and a very brief stint on the US version of the show), and a signature perfume. She is said to have so much faith in the strength of her recent marriage that she refused to sign a pre-nuptial agreement to protect her cash</p>

<p>Boyle is worth £22 million, and is perhaps the ultimate reality TV success story. From the moment the 53-year-old blew the audience away during her Britain’s Got Talent audition in 2009, her unique talents were set to transform her life. In the end she only came second on the show, but was snapped up by Simon Cowell’s record label and was immediately put to work.</p>

<p>Despite having relatively fragile health - which has meant a less full-on promotional whirl than the One Direction boys, she has released four albums, and sold more than 19 million copies. She has also embarked on a tour, and has performed at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games and for Pope Benedict XVI. It is no surprise that her story was turned into a musical, and the rights bought to turn it into a film.</p>

<p>Roots (whose real name is actually Keith Valentine Graham Bilal Musa) is worth £30 million. He took his jerk sauce to a trade show in 2006, where he was spotted by a BBC producer who suggested he appeared on Dragon’s Den.</p>

<p>In 2007 he blew the dragons away (despite getting his maths very wrong when calculating how much sauce was on order), and won over Peter Jones and Richard Fairleigh. Now it’s not just his jerk sauce that is stocked in supermarkets - but a vast range of pizzas, sauces, ready meals and even cakes. He has also produced best-selling cook books and a BBC series, and tours the speaking circuit.</p>

<p>Hilton is worth £36 million, and is the first on this list to be famous for nothing in particular - generally known as being a Hilton hotels heir and a socialite. However, since she appeared on her own reality TV show, The Simple Life, with Nicole Ritchie, she has made a fortune through a huge number of ventures. Reality TV has been good to her, with her BFF reality show franchise and The World According to Paris. Telling her story has also made her rich - with two autobiographies and a documentary on the subject. She has appeared in several films and TV dramas, and released an album.</p>

<p><br />
However, she has also shown an incredible ability to sell products. She has her own fashion lines - including one for dogs, more than ten fragrances, jewellery designs, hair extensions, shampoos, hair vitamins, shoes, an app, sunglasses, and a chain of accessory shops.</p>

<p>The top position on the list goes to Kardashian West, who is worth £39 million. She’s another ‘socialite’ who came to the attention of TV producers in 2007 through a leaked sex tape. This lead to Keeping Up With The Kardashians - which has since spawned nine series and four spin offs. This only explains a fraction of her wealth, however, because Kim Kardashian’s ability to cash in on fame is unprecedented.</p>

<p>Her enormous number of endorsements include perfume, trainers, diet products, nail polish, jewellery, watches, a cupcake mix, lollipops, Carls Jr fast food, a gaming app, candles, laser hair-removal, fake tan, lipgloss, and swimwear. The family owns a chain of boutiques, and a clothing line called the Kardashian Kollection. Even her wedding in 2011 was said to have made her £6 million.</p>

Klass is worth £11 million. She was an early winner in the pop competition phenomenon. The classical musician took part in Popstars in 2001, where she took the title as a member of Hear’Say. The win brought her £1 million immediately, but the band only lasted two years. She was snapped up after the band split, but had limited success as a solo pop artist.

Her second big break, however, came when she appeared in I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here in 2006 and took an array of small bikinis with her. She subsequently balanced modelling with a return to classical music. And since then had delved into an incredible array of enterprises, ranging from designing a range of baby clothes for Mothercare to presenting Loose Women and hosting a show on Classic FM.

One Direction Top Rich List of Brits Under 30

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There are now 53 British billionaires

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