Leadership1 publisherNot yet confirmed elsewhere2 min readPublished
David Reuben's move to Monaco revives the argument over how many UK billionaires are leaving
David Reuben, worth nearly £28bn with his brother Simon, has left the UK for Monaco. By one count, billionaires worth £121bn have left or loosened UK ties since 2024, though for UK firms the open question is whether their capital follows them.
The Board Room · Leadership desk
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What happened
- Reuben's spokesperson did not expand on why he left, though tax is thought to be a factor.
- Lakshmi Mittal and shipping magnate John Fredriksen are among the other billionaires who have already left the UK.
- Many of the exits are blamed on Rachel Reeves's removal of the non-dom regime, while others cite fear of new property taxes and higher inheritance tax.
- Arun Advani, director of CenTax and one of the designers of the higher inheritance tax, said he was unconcerned about billionaire flight.
- Bet365 founder Denise Coates appears to have no plans to leave, and Phones4U founder John Caudwell confirmed he is staying UK resident.
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Why it matters
- exposure Newcastle United and Aston Villa now have prominent shareholders who are no longer UK resident, so their boards plan around owners whose tax position is set elsewhere.
- decision Dyson's return from Singapore within two years means a board cannot treat a founder's departure as final when it plans succession or investment.
- contradiction The Bloomberg-based count and Advani's reading point opposite ways; until someone publishes a baseline, the policy argument will be fought over named cases like Reuben's.
The £121bn figure comes from an analysis of Bloomberg's Billionaires Index reported by the Guardian. It counts wealth, so a few large fortunes can move it [3]. Because that sum is more than half of all UK billionaire wealth, the whole stock must be below £242bn [14]. On that bound, the nearly £28bn estimated for David Reuben and his brother Simon together is more than 11% of it [2][15]. The estimate covers both brothers. The reported move is David's [1].
Arun Advani of CenTax, who is influential in Labour circles, made the skeptic's case [7]. "Mobility among billionaires is high," he said. "Many wealthy people leave every year, it just isn't always reported as loudly as at the moment. So a couple of highly reported examples don't in themselves indicate anything has changed." [8] The analysis as reported starts in 2024 and does not include an earlier baseline or an estimate of tax lost, so it cannot separate a policy effect from ordinary churn [3].
People also move back. James Dyson, worth £12bn, moved to Singapore in 2019 and was back in 2021 [10]. Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo, both crypto billionaires, recently registered as UK residents [12].
The financier Ben Goldsmith asked the revenue question directly. "How the hell are we supposed to pay for health services and everything if we are driving out the highest rate taxpayers?" he said [6]. The non-dom system allowed individuals to pay tax only on income generated in the UK [5]. Abolishing it widens the tax base for residents who stay and raises nothing extra from those who leave [5].
For a UK employer, I think the owner's address and the owner's capital are separate decisions. So far the record shows owners changing country while their stakes are still described as held. Jim Ratcliffe moved to Monaco in 2018 and owns the chemicals company Ineos [9]. He said "the UK has got a bit of a green eye towards wealth at the moment" [9]. Reuben is described as a Newcastle United shareholder, and Nassef Sawiris, who has left, as an Aston Villa co-owner [2][4]. Dyson has invested in UK businesses since his return [10].
For a board with a founder or anchor investor, the cheap decision this quarter is to find out whether that person plans to move. Reuben's departure was reported this weekend, after he had already gone [1]. Paddy Renouf, who runs the concierge service Serendipity, said his ultra-rich clients are still in the UK and spending, though he conceded some "nervousness" among them [13].
What to watch
- Any government move on property taxes, which departing residents say they fear.
- Official receipts data showing what ending non-dom status has raised against the income lost to departures.
- A sale or reduction of a UK stake by a departed owner, such as Reuben at Newcastle United or Sawiris at Aston Villa.