The 2015 Rich List Is Out

Graeme Hart has added a cool $2 billion to his estimated wealth this year, according to the National Business Review's 2015 Rich List.

The major contributors to the 2015 Rich List, released today, remained largely unchanged from last year, with the top ten names identical to 2014, with the exception of Michael Friedlander who moved from fifth equal to fifth.

The list does feature a number of well-known names, including Sir Peter Jackson (with $630 million), Rod Drury ($550 million), Sir Owen Glenn ($450 million) and Eric Watson ($120 million).

Quite a bit below them are Prime Minister John Key ($55 million) and America's Cup yachtsman Sir Russell Coutts ($50 million).

The list also features 15 new faces and some that haven't been seen for some time. Malcolm Dick and Annette Presley were+++++++++++++++ last on the list eight years ago. The pair sold their telco business CallPlus for $250 million to Australian company M2 in April. Dick sits at number 80 on the list with $150 million and Presley at number 131 with $90 million.

This years newcomers had a combined worth of just over $1.2 billion, and NBR news editor Duncan Bridgeman said growth in the total value of the list - up to $55 billion for New Zealand based Rich Listers - was an indication they had been able to capitalise on their wealth in the last year.

"We have had some reductions in the value of some on the List but that is far outweighed by the increases and the newcomers we have identified," he said.

Also in the top ten is the Todd family, whose head Sir John Todd died last night.

Sir John, 88, was also one of the country's top philanthropists as well as a leading patron of the arts, and chairman of his famously private family's charitable Todd Foundation.

Via NZ Herald