Old money lingers but billions have evaporated since 2010
Some held on to their hats as a hurricane blew through Irish economy — but many lost everything, writes
THE past decade really has been a story of bust to boom. Ten years ago many of Ireland’s Rich
List regulars were experiencing the harsh realities of the recession.
The 2010 Rich List opened by describing how the country was ‘on its knees’ and explained how the property values had fallen drastically. It listed several prominent business names from the noughties who had seen a dramatic reversal of their fortunes. Few of them have recovered the wealth they lost in the crash.
First among these challenged business leaders was Sean Quinn who was still in the top ten overall at this stage. But the list estimated that he was down €2.5bn, leaving him with a wealth of just €845m. Worse was to come for him.
Former Anglo Boss Sean FitzPatrick, whose fate would be intertwined with Quinn’s, was also flagged as someone who had seen a dramatic reversal in fortunes.
Back in 2010 developer Bernard McNamara owed €1.2bn — he was to go bankrupt in 2012. However, he has since rebounded, getting back into the property market although not at the extents seen before the crash.
Another boomtime developer Liam Carroll owed over €1bn when the Rich List was compiled in 2010. Dubbed the shoe-box apartment developer, he has not re-emerged as a builder during the recovery. While many of the top noughties
names are no longer in the
Rich List top ten — including Quinn and the former owner of Independent News and Media, Tony O’Reilly — several have held onto their wealth and increased it.
Dublin-born Hilary Weston, whose family owns Brown Thomas, Arnotts and Selfridges, was estimated to be worth €3.67bn in 2010. The Westons are now worth €8.6bn. The low profile Pallonji Mistry from India, who is married to Dubliner Patsy Perin Dubash, topped the list in 2010 with riches of €4.4bn — today that wealth is worth an estimated €13.8bn.
The most notable change to the top ten has been the rise of the Collison brothers from Limerick. When the Rich List was published a decade ago, Patrick was 21 and John just 18. They were already being tipped as promising tech entrepreneurs but their $35bn payments company Stripe was just being founded in 2009. The latest fundraising puts a valuation of $4.2bn each on their stakes in Stripe, on paper at least. The brothers have created a massively valuable company over the decade.
Others to see their worth increase significantly over ten years have been Eugene Murtagh, founder of insulation company Kingspan. In 2010 his worth was just €440m. It has risen to €1.88bn as the value of the company has soared. Developers the Comer Brothers made some fantastic returns on properties they bought during the recession. They have broken into the top ten on the
Rich List after revealing further information about their extensive property portfolio. Beef Baron Larry Goodman has also moved into the billionaire’s circle over the last decade, with new documents from Luxembourg giving new insights into the scale of his empire last year.
While there are several new entrants to the 2020 list, there are plenty more promising entrepreneurs building up their businesses — and their bank balances.
For example, Irishman John Lyttle, the new chief executive of BooHoo.com is in line to collect £50m (€58m) in company shares if he delivers enough growth at the online fashion retailer. Tyrone woman Sarah Friar, CEO of Nextdoor, oversaw a funding round last year which valued the social network company at $2.1bn and she is likely to earn a big payday if the company lists on the stock market.
In the world of film and music, there are also some extremely bankable Irish stars including Saoirse Ronan, who was nominated for her fourth Oscar for her role in Little
Women. Like the other potential future rich listers, she looks set to have some very lucrative years ahead.