Thomson family remains richest in Canada

Arlene Stacey | November 29th, 2012

The magazine just released its annual list, and found that everyone who made the “rich list” increased their wealth yet again over the past year. Yes, 86 of the 100 on the list have an even higher net worth this year than they did last.

Overall, there are 69 billionaires on the list – the most ever – and the cut off came in at $654 million (for Futura Corporation founder Amar Doman), the highest on record.

Coming in the number one spot again this year is the Thomson family, who possess a net worth of $20.1 billion. What started as a media company shifted into a financial information database after teaming up with Reuters. The family also owns stakes in the Globe and Mail newspaper as well as the Winnipeg Jets NHL team. While their net worth dropped by 5.7 per cent this year, it wasn’t enough of a dip to take them off of the top spot.

Galen Weston came in at second place. As the executive chairman of George Weston Ltd., as well as the head of Loblaws and Holt Renfrew, his net worth increased by three per cent to $8.2 billion.

The Rogers family came in fourth with a net worth of $6.4 billion, seeing an increase of eight per cent throughout the past year. The increase came from the rise in value of their shares in the  TSX-listed Rogers Communications Inc.

Jeff Skoll, the movie mogel and founder of eBay, came in at sixth place with a net income of $4.55 billion, an increase of 21.3 per cent.

Lululemon founder Chip Wilson managed to crack the top 10 this year in tenth place, with a net worth increase of 23 per cent at 3.5 billion.

The biggest drop came from the former Research In Motion co-CEO Jim Ballsillie, whose fortune took a 41 per cent dip, bringing his net worth to $651 million – just missing the top 100. His RIM co-founder Mike Lazaridis held onto the 84th spot.

Back in 2007, they were the eight and ninth richest people in Canada.

The Top 10

  1. Thomson Family, $20.1 billion
  2. Galen Weston, $8.2 billion
  3. J.K., Arthur and John Irving family, $8.07 billion
  4. Rogers family, $6.4 billion
  5. Jimmy Pattison, $6.14 billion
  6. Jeff Skoll, $4.55 billion
  7. Paul Desmarais Sr., $4.4 billion
  8. Saputo family, $4.23 billion
  9. Carlo Fidani, $3.6 billion
  10. Chip Wilson, $3.5 billion

Sources: Canadian Business Magazine, CBC

Photo ©iStockphoto.com/mbbirdy

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