Sunday Times 2012 Rich List – Social Media

Britain’s top ten richest people in the world of social media are worth a combined £15.8bn, according to the latest Sunday Times Rich List for 2012.

The bulk of that figure represents the wealth of Facebook investor Alisher Usmanov, in which he places second overall.

The Russian oligarch is worth some £12.3bn, although not all of that is due to his social media investments. He also controls iron ore producer Metalloinvest.

His fellow countryman Andrey Andreev, who founded the online dating site Badoo, is a new entrant into the list, in fifth place in the social media top ten with £500m.

The London-based businessman, 38, has hit on a winning strategy of free membership and no advertising – charging members £1 to improve their profile.

Second on the list is Michael Moritz, the legendary Silicon Valley venture capitalist who made savvy investments in business networking site Linkedin, among others.

In a recent interview, he said the best advice he ever got came from Bill Deedes, the former editor of the Daily Telegraph.

“Prior to leaving college, my heart was set on working on Fleet Street,” he told Fortune . “I went to see Bill one rainy day in his office. He said if he were in my shoes, he would go to America. That adjusted my compass. After that, I was hell-bent on going.”

Rock band U2 also makes the list because of frontman Bono’s investments in Facebook and review site Yelp, via Silicon Valley private equity firm Elevation Partners.

Last in the top ten is Joanna Shields, the European vice-president of Facebook. However she looks set to climb higher, as she is expected to add to her wealth when the company floats.

 

Social Media Millionaires:

1. Alisher Usmanov, Facebook: £12.3bn

2. Michael Moritz, Linkedin: £1.08bn

3. Niklas Zennstrom, Skype: £600m

4. U2 (Bono), Facebook, Yelp: £514m

5. Andrey Andreev, Badoo: £500m

6. Michael and Xochi Birch, Bebo, TweetDeck: £270m

7. Vikrant Bhargava, SocialGO: £230m

8. Daniel Ek, Spotify: £190m

9. Tihan Presbie, Miniclip: £155m

10. Joanna Shields, Bebo, Facebook: £50m