Newsroom
The Sunday Times published the names of 1000 richest people in the UK, with easyJet founder Stelios Hadjioannou topping the list among Cypriots.
Even though John Fredriksen, a Norwegian-born oil tanker and shipping magnate who obtained Cyprus citizenship was ranked 19th with a net worth of €7.6 billion, Sir Stelios is considered the richest Cypriot in the UK based on the list.
Sir Stelios, who is best known for starting the low budget easyJet airline in 1995, was ranked 48th on the Rich List 2018 with an estimated worth of €3.37 billion. He is also one among several philanthropists around the world, including Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, who pledge to give away most of their fortune to charity.
Sir Stelios is among several philanthropists around the world who pledge to give away most of their fortune to charity
Since 2009, the Stelios Bi-communal Awards have been encouraging bi-communal cooperation between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots in order to promote lasting peace on the island.
Second on the Cypriot part of the list are the David and Leventis families, ranked 62nd with assets totaling €2.5 billion. The Davids own the live streaming service FilmOn, an Internet-based television provider, while the Leventis -of whom Alkis David is a member- owns a share in Coca-Cola HBC worth €2.17 billion.
Other Cypriots include the Lazari family at 66th place with sizeable business ventures in the real estate industry as well as John Christodoulou ranked 90th in the same field.
The most loaded with money this year in Britain is self-made billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, who came from very humble beginnings in Manchester all the way to overseeing today a fortune of €24 billion. He is the first British-born industrialist to top the list, despite being ranked as low as 18th just last year.
