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2020 was a fruitful year for the super-wealthy, as we can tell from all the insane things they splurged their lockdown cash on.

The UK’s Sunday Times regularly publishes a list of the richest in the region, and this year the publication recorded an additional 24 billionaires, bringing the total to 171.

Per BusinessTech, their combined fortune grew by nearly 22% to just north of £597 billion.

There was obviously a lot of money to be made from the COVID-19 pandemic and the severe market disruptions that followed.

On the top of the list is a businessman and investor who had his wealth increase by £7,2 billion in the last year, putting him at a very lovely £23 billion fortune.

That’s Sir Leonard Blavatnik, for you.

Focusing locally, there are four South African billionaires in the top 250 on the Rich List for 2021.

The list does well to include businessmen and women who have dual citizenship through business, investments, or residency in the country.

The Oppenheimer family (Nicky Oppenheimer is pictured above) is leading the local rankings at number 31 on the list.

The family is up £197 million from last year, and now have an estimated net worth of £5,797 billion (around R114 billion).

Next up, at number 42 on the list, is South African-born Eswatini businessman Nathan Kirsch, who has an estimated £4,178 billion (R82 billion) in his bank:

Image: blackopinion.co.za

Third is Douw Steyn, a well-known insurance businessman and property developer, at number 79 on the list with £2,05 billion:

Image: eprop.co.za

Lastly, we have Manfred Gorvy, an investor and philanthropist with a net worth of £921 million, which puts him and his family at 176th on the list:

Image: thenegotiator.co.uk

You can check out the full list here, but we’ll touch on the top 10, which doesn’t feature any South African players (yet).

The table starts with the 2021 ranking (2020’s ranking in brackets), the names, and then the net worth:

Image: The Times and The Sunday Times

[sources:businesstech&sundaytimes]