West Midlands' wealthiest revealed in new Sunday Times Rich List

At the top: Lord Bamford and family, worth £9.45bn—up from £7.65bn last year. Their company, JCB, known for its iconic yellow diggers, paid out £300m in dividends over the past 12 months.

In second place are Denise, John, and Peter Coates of Bet365, with a £9.44bn fortune. They saw the biggest gain in the region, up £1.9bn.

Former Birmingham student Ben Francis of Gymshark makes the list again. His wealth grew even as company profits dipped. He’s once again been named the richest young person in the Midlands.

From pizza delivery boy to Britain’s youngest billionaire: the rise of Ben Francis & Solihull-based Gymshark

This year’s 76-page edition also marks a milestone: the biggest drop in UK billionaires since the list began 37 years ago—down from 177 in 2022 to 156 in 2025. It’s the third year in a row the count has fallen, with this being the steepest decline.

The 350 individuals and families featured now hold a combined £772.8bn—down 3% from last year. That’s still more than Switzerland’s annual GDP.

Familiar names like Sir Elton John, Lord Lloyd-Webber, Sir Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Euan Blair, Sir Lewis Hamilton, and Sir Christopher Nolan also appear.

The entry threshold remains at £350m, reflecting a stagnant year at the top.

Robert Watts, the list’s compiler, noted: “The Rich List is evolving. There are fewer billionaires, and overall wealth is down. Fewer global elites are choosing to live in the UK, and tax changes—especially the end of non-dom status—are sparking backlash, not just from foreign investors but from UK entrepreneurs and family business owners, too.”

He added that new fortunes are still being made across unexpected sectors—from AI and gaming to makeup, radiators, and jogging bottoms: “What inspires readers most are the stories of people who started with little and built their wealth from scratch.”

The full list is available online and in the print edition on Sunday, 19 May.