Business Insider’s annual Rich List identified £45.6 billion of wealth shared between our region’s 50 most affluent individuals and families - up almost 9% on the previous year.
Whilst you will find familiar names in these rankings - such as Mohsin and Zuber Issa, the petrol retailing brothers who took control of Asda, or Fred and Peter Done, another pair of famous billionaire brothers, best known for their BetFred gambling empire - often it’s the new entries and lesser-known entrepreneurs and business leaders who are the most intriguing.
One debutant on the full list is the McMahon family who, ten years ago, bought Heinz’s 11-acre babymilk factory in Kendal for just £1, and now have a fast-growing infant nutrition venture.
Our region has also become home to a number of companies profiting from the boom in vaping. E-cigarettes have proven to be a divisive topic to many - and a sizable business opportunity for Phil Boyle and Mubarak Patel who oth appear in this year’s rankings.
Gone are the days when Rich Lists are dominated by finance, industry or property. Fortunes are now being made in more diverse and surprising ways. There’s some inspiration for ambitious entrepreneurs, whatever type of business they’re growing.
Although the entire list features 50 names, we have outlined just the 25 richest people in the North West for you below...
How the list was created
This list features entrepreneurs or business leaders who are either working in a company they either started themselves or inherited. Business Insider also include those still living in the area who have recently sold their main businesses but retain interests in other ventures.
Business Insider valued stakes in quoted companies in July 2025. Private companies were valued according to the ratios in their sectors or more generally where a sector rating was not evident, at around ten times their latest profit figures, which in many cases is more conservative than stock market ratings.
They deducted appropriate sums from dividends and company sales to reflect tax unless they were certain someone is not domiciled in the UK for tax.
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5. Fred (pictured) and Peter Done (2025: £3.015bn, 2024: £2.7bn)
Gambling and property The Dones will always be best known for BetFred, the betting shop chain the brothers set up with money won on a successful wager on England to win the 1966 World Cup. But in recent years their insurance and business services group Peninsula has been thriving - paying out a £65m dividend last year. This takes the payments from this part of their Dones’ empire to £314m over the past seven years - three times as much as those from BetFred. Although BetFred has not published new accounts in time for this Rich List, we upgrade the value of the Dones’ business empire from £2bn to £2.25bn. A run of dividends, property worth at least £250m and other assets take the brothers to £765bn. | submit
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6. Simon (pictured), Bobby and Robin Arora (2025: £2.019bn, 2024: £2.1bn)
Retail: Low-cost retail Shares in B&M have lost more than half of their value since Simon Arora stepped down from the board in April 2023. Arora and his brothers Bobby and Robin paid just £525,000 for the Speke-based retailer back in 2004. The outfit had 21 shops at the time. The Aroras steadily built B&M into a chain of 1,100 stores, making a fortune by taking the business onto the stockmarket and gradually selling down shares. Their remaining stake is now worth £95.1m - down from £190.5m a year ago. The Aroras should still have received £14.6m of B&M dividends over the past year. | submit
7. Simon Nixon (2025: £1.95bn, 2024: £1.880bn)
The Fortress, Nixon’s Malibu holiday home, survived the LA fires earlier this year because it is largely made of concrete and steel - even acting as a firebreak helping to save other properties from destruction. Nixon has been renting out the five-bedroom property for around $200,000 a month. The one-time university dropout owes his fortune to Moneysupermarket. He floated the price comparison site on the stockmarket in 2007, making more than £700m by selling shares in the Chester-based outfit over the years. More recently Nixon has done well from investing in the stock market, hedge funds and private equity. His tech investments alone are now worth around £890m. His £375m real estate empire includes glamorous holiday retreats in Barbados, Cornwall, Mallorca, Cumbria and The Cotswolds. | archive from Facebook
8. Henry Moser and family (2025: £1.875bn, 2024: £1.759bn)
Finance: Financial services A former car dealer who clocked there was more money to be made selling loans to finance vehicles than old bangers, Moser has become one of the kings of the UK’s lending industry. His Cheadle-based group Together provides loans to businesses, property developers, buy-to-let investors and customers who can struggle to find credit from mainstream providers. Underlying profits climbed by 23% to £200.9m in 2024. Moser owns all of Together and there has been talk of a sale valuing the business at as much as £2bn. In the current market a £1.7bn price looks fairer - £100 more than a year ago. Balances in Moser’s property company have also grown by £16.1m since last year’s Rich List. The low-profile lender has also done well from dividends and a deal with private equity in recent years. | Google Maps