Zoopla founder falls-off UK Rich List

Zoopla founder Alex Chesterman has fallen out of the 2023 Sunday Times Rich List while Foxtons supremo Jon Hunt has seen his fortune rise, according to the latest measure of UK wealth.

The annual list charts the wealth of the 350 richest people in the UK.

The list highlights that many industry moguls such as Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson and Easyjet’s Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou have seen their wealth drop.

A similar fate has befallen Chesterman, the newspaper said.

He founded Zoopla in 2007 and has gone on to back many other major businesses including Cazoo, entering the Sunday Times Rich List in 2021 with an estimated wealth of £750m.

The Sunday Times said: “The share price of his car-selling start-up, Cazoo has plummeted by 99% since its US stock market float in August 2021. We cannot identify sufficient wealth for him to meet the £350 million that would put him in our list this year.”

Meanwhile, Foxtons founder Hunt saw his wealth grow by £12m to £1.4bn, according to the list.

He moved up one place to 123.

It is topped by Gopi Hinduja and family with an estimated wealth from industry and finance of £35bn.

They are hardly likely to attract much sympathy but the newspaper highlights that the number of billionaires has actually fallen since last year, down by six to 171.
It is the first fall in the number of billionaires since the 2008 financial crisis.

Wealth shared by UK billionaires climbed to £683.856 billion, £30,734 more than last year but The Sunday Times highlights that at a time of double-digit inflation, that 4.5% rise represents a fall in real terms.

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