Philip Green slips down the rich list after BHS scandal
BILLIONAIRE Sir Philip Green and his wife Lady Tina suffered a new blow yesterday as they slid down the Sunday Times married couples rich list.
The pair slipped from third to fifth place as their combined wealth fell by £433million.
But Lady Tina and Sir Philip, condemned over the collapse of BHS with the loss of 11,000 jobs, are still sitting on a fortune of £2.8billion.
She is the registered owner and he the chairman of Arcadia, which ran BHS for 15 years before selling it for £1.
The couple sparked fury by partying aboard their yacht while former employees and pensioners struggled for cash.
Sir Philip was warned last week he could still be stripped of his knighthood, despite offering £363million towards BHS’s £571million pension deficit.
Sir Philip, 65, and Lady Green were the only couple on the rich list whose wealth was said to have fallen over the past year.
Topping the table were pharmaceuticals tycoon Ernesto Bertarelli and his former model and singer wife Kirsty whose fortune was put at £11.5billion.
Assets
The couple, who have a mews house in London’s exclusive Belgravia, saw their combined assets increase by £1.72billion.
Heineken heiress Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and the banker and former Olympic skier Michel de Carvalho were second with £9.3billion.
New at three with £3.9billion was Lady Charlotte Wellesley, and financier Alejandro Santo Domingo who wed last year.
Hollywood actress Salma Hayek and French businessman Francois-Henri Pinault, were fourth with £3.4billion.
In sixth, Cardiff-born venture capitalist Sir Michael Moritz and his novelist wife Harriet Heyman are worth £2.6billion.
Seventh, with wealth totalling £1.9billion, was Chris Dawson and wife Sarah who run the Range home and garden chain.
Plymouth-based former market trader Mr Dawson was dubbed the “Devon Del Boy” after buying a Bentley with the number plate “DE11 B0Y.”
Douglas and Dame Mary Perkins, who founded Specsavers opticians, were in eighth place with a fortune of £1.6billion.
In ninth place, Finnish financier and art collector Poju Zabludowicz shares his £1.5billion fortune with wife Anita.
Tenth with £1.4billion are Emily and Georg von Opel, great-grandson of the German car pioneer Adam Opel. In total, the 10 couples on the 29th and longest ever list were worth £39.9billion.
Compiler Robert Watts said: “Starting a business with your other half may not appeal to everyone. A bit of pillow talk about balance sheets wouldn’t suit all marriages but there are clearly some couples who are making it work, and very well.”