London now home to the most number of millionaire CEOs

Half of all millionaire CEOs are self-made, according to a new study, which also reveals that London is home to largest number of the world's millionaire CEOs. 

If you have ever wondered where the world’s millionaire CEOs call home, it turns out that London is actually the city with the most number of millionaire CEOs. New research conducted by Compelo dug into this faction of wealthy business leaders and reveals that the average millionaire CEO is a 58-year-old male with wealth ranging between $5 million and $30 million.

While nearly half  of all millionaire CEOs reside in the US, followed by UK and France, when broken down by city, London was found to be home to the largest number of millionaire CEOs.

Contrary to expectations, 50 per cent of millionaire CEOs are self-made, meaning that they created their own business of which they now hold the post of CEO. Only 38 per cent of these CEOs made their wealth from a salaried position.

Although old money and family funds have long held a strong seat in London’s business and investment world, only 7 per cent of millionaire CEOs have acquired their wealth through family money, and only an even smaller 5 per cent have acquired their wealth from inheritance.

Another piece of research revealed that the number of women with an income of over £1 million has risen dramatically over the last two years. According to Radius Equity, the number of women declaring an income of over £1 million rose by 29 percent in 2015. Over the same period there was just a 10 per cent increase in the number of men with an income of over £1 million.

While the number of women hitting the millionaire milestone is rising at a much faster rate than the number of men with an income of over £1 million, there are still far fewer of them. There are currently 10,200 men with an income of over £1 million; 11 times more than the number of women with an income of over £1 million.

Further research from Radius Equity shows that women are outperforming men on two fronts. The number of women who are now higher rate tax payers has also risen at a faster rate than men, increasing by 17 per cent in 2015, compared to just a 13 per cent rise for men.

Some of the more notable women entrepreneurs and business leaders in the UK include Katherine Garrett-Cox, CEO of financial services company, Alliance Trust, fashion entrepreneur Stella McCartney, Carolyn McCall, CEO of EasyJet, and Moya Green, chief executive of The Royal Mail.

Here are the official rankings by Compelo and Wealth Insight.

Rank City Percentage of total
1 London 2.9 per cent
2 San Francisco 2.6 per cent
3 New York 2.1 per cent
4 Singapore 1.0 per cent
5 Los Angeles 0.8 per cent
6 Houston 0.8 per cent
7 Boston 0.8 per cent
8 Paris 0.7 per cent
9 Chicago 0.7 per cent
10 Washington 0.5 per cent

Despite employing the highest volume of millionaire CEOs, tech and telecoms is actually the worst industry for their wealth. CEOs working in tech and telecoms have an average wealth between $1 million and $5 million, despite the sector seeing explosive growth globally.

The industry that has the least CEOs at 2 per cent, but has the wealthiest is ‘diversified’. These are companies that are active in multiple sectors such as Koch Industries, run the billionaire CEO Charles Koch, or Virgin whose former CEO Richard Branson is worth an estimated $5.5 billion.

Industry Percentage of Millionaire CEOs
1 Tech & Telecoms 18 per cent
2 Financial Services & Investments 15 per cent
3 Retail, Fashion & Luxury Goods 8 per cent
4 Healthcare 8 per cent
5 Manufacturing 6 per cent
6 Media 5 per cent
7 Basic Materials 5 per cent
8 Energy & Utilities 5 per cent
9 Real Estate 4 per cent
10 Transport & Logistics 4 per cent
11 FMCG 4 per cent
12 Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure 3 per cent
13 Construction & Engineering 3 per cent
14 Diversified 2 per cent

Praseeda Nair

Praseeda Nair

Praseeda was Editor for GrowthBusiness.co.uk from 2016 to 2018.

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