The Cypriots on the Sunday Times Rich List 2024

The Sunday Times Rich List 2024 has been released and it includes four UK Cypriots as well as Norwegian-born Cypriot oil tanker and shipping billionaire businessman based in London John Fredriksen, who made it to the Top 10.

The Sunday Times Rich List is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families in the United Kingdom, updated annually in April and published as a magazine supplement by British national Sunday newspaper The Sunday Times since 1989

The richest Cypriots are highlighted below.

Alki David

At number 60 is Alki David and the Leventis family with a value of £2.786 billion. Alki David was born in Nigeria to Cypriot parents and lives in the UK as well as Los Angeles.

David, who has appeared as heavies and the like in films or TV series in Britain, runs FilmOn, a patented live-streaming Internet business, allowing access to live HDTV streaming via PCs, televisions and cell phones. David had a controlling 80% stake. Alki David is a member of the prominent Cypriot Leventis family who merged its worldwide bottling operation with Coca Cola to create London listed international drinks bottler Coca Cola HBC.

John Christodoulou

John Christodoulou is in the List at number 70 with a value of £2.5 billion. Christodoulou, born in Cyprus, fled the country with his family after the Turkish invasion of the island in 1974 and resettled in the UK.
He decided to drop out of school at age 16 and worked as a diamond mounter, using his early profits to buy his first property: a studio apartment in London.

The Yianis Group’s portfolio includes residential, retail, office and hotel properties, including five hotels in the UK.
The Monaco resident still maintains close ties with his birth country and his Yianis Christodoulou Foundation supports children’s education around the world, especially his place of birth Cyprus.

Lazari Family

The Lazari Family ranked number 74 with a value of £2.4 billion. The Lazaris family acquired the iconic Fenwick department store on Bond Street. Located on London’s most famous shopping street, the purchase closed at around £430 million.

The founder, Christos Lazari, was born in Dora, Limassol and arrived in Britain at 16 years old. In the early seventies he started working in the dress business eventually owning his own dress manufacturing business, Drendie Girl, before entering the property investment business.

The business is run by his sons Len and Nick and daughter Andrie.

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou

At number 95 is Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou and family with a value of £1.78 billion.

The son of a Greek Cypriot shipping magnate, Stelios Haji-Ioannou gets the bulk of his fortune from his stake in budget airline easyJet.

Stelios founded easyJet in 1995 after leaving his father’s company; his siblings Clelia and Polys both have large stakes in the airline.
Stelios maintains ownership of the easy brand through his private company, easyGroup.
Through easyGroup, Stelios has licensed the “easy” name to such businesses as easyHotel, easyCar and easyCoffee.

John Fredriksen

Ranking 10th was John Fredriksen and family with a value of £12.87b (shipping and oil services). John Fredriksen is a Norwegian-born Cypriot oil tanker and shipping billionaire businessman based in London.

He owns the world's largest oil tanker fleet and has major interests in the offshore driller Seadrill, the fish farming company Mowi, and the dry bulk company Golden Ocean Group.

Who makes the top 10?

According to the Sunday Times, the 10 richest families and individuals in the UK, the estimated value of their fortunes and the primary source of their wealth are:

Gopi Hinduja and family – £37.2b (industry and finance)
Sir Leonard Blavatnik – £29.25b (investment, music and media)
David and Simon Reuben and family – £24.98b (property and internet)
Sir Jim Ratcliffe – £23.52bn (chemicals)
Sir James Dyson and family – £20.8b (household goods and technology)
Barnaby and Merlin Swire and family – £17.2b (transport)
Idan Ofer – £14.96b (shipping)
Lakshmi Mittal and family – £14.92b (steel)
Guy, George, Alannah and Galen Weston and family – £14.49b (retail and real estate interests, including Primark)
John Fredriksen and family- £12.87b (shipping and oil services)