How to Become Britain's Richest Person
Jim Ratcliffe is a complicated character, as shown by his support for Brexit.
A billionaire's life begins at 40.
Photographer: Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images
For someone who shuns the spotlight, chemicals billionaire Jim Ratcliffe has been in the news rather a lot lately. Crowned Britain’s richest person by the Sunday Times in May, knighted by the Queen in June, he’s now poised to quit the U.K. to live in Monaco, according to the Telegraph — sparking a fair bit of criticism given his support for Brexit.
This straight-talking runner, mountaineer and adventurer certainly likes to stay busy. He’s also developing a successor to the Land Rover Defender, a favorite of Britain’s moneyed rural classes, and merrily snapping up trophy assets such as the fashionable motorcycle jacket maker Belstaff, a Swiss football club and a safari park. There have been reports that he’d like to buy Chelsea Football Club from Roman Abramovich.