Preston billionaire Michael Platt - who is he and how did he get rich? - video Dailymotion

Blackpool Gazette

55-year-old Michael Platt was born and raised in a modest home in Lancashire.   He has just been crowned the youngest billionaire in the UK with the highest net worth in the top 10 after amassing an estimated £12.7bn fortune.   But, what does that mean - and how did he get SO rich?

Transcript

00:00 A Preston man has been crowned the youngest billionaire in the UK with the highest net

00:05 worth in the top 10.

00:07 But what does that actually mean?

00:10 And who is this incredibly wealthy Prestonian?

00:16 In 2000 Michael Platt co-founded Bluecrest Capital Management which is now the third

00:21 largest hedge fund company in Europe.

00:24 55 year old Platt was born and raised in a relatively modest household in Lancashire.

00:30 His dad taught civil engineering at the University of Manchester and his mother was a university

00:35 administrator.

00:36 Platt is currently worth an eye-watering £12.7 billion.

00:42 So how did he make all that money?

00:45 Well for his 14th birthday his grandmother gave him £500 which he invested on the stock

00:51 market.

00:52 Young Michael realised he had a natural flair for investing.

00:56 After studying at the London School of Economics he landed a job at JP Morgan where he quickly

01:01 worked his way up.

01:03 After 10 years there he founded Bluecrest Management in 2000.

01:08 So the youngest billionaire in the UK with the highest net worth in the top 10.

01:13 What on earth does that mean?

01:16 Well a list was compiled of the 10 youngest billionaires in the UK.

01:21 Their ages ranged from 31 to 56.

01:25 But the Preston Bourne hedge fund manager by far has the highest net worth of any of

01:30 those young go-getters.

01:32 In fact Platt's net worth is worth more than double that of the second richest on the list.

01:39 The second richest is Denise Coates the owner of online gambling company Bet365 and she

01:46 is worth £6.23 billion.

01:51 The list was compiled by City Index by analysing data from the Forbes Live Billionaires Tracker.

01:58 The UK's youngest billionaire is Ben Francis the 31 year old CEO of clothing brand Gymshark

02:06 and he is worth £1.2 billion.

02:10 Earlier in 2023 North West Business Insider compiled the North West Rich List featuring

02:16 100 most well-off business people in the region.

02:20 Topping the list are Blackburn, Petrol Station Tycoons, Mosin & Zuba Issa worth £5.25 billion.

02:29 Jonathan Warburton and family make number 18 on the list.

02:32 The Bolton family behind the bakery are worth £586 million.

02:38 Jonathan has brought many high profile film stars in to promote their famously soft loaves

02:43 since taking over as chairman in 2001.

02:48 Beaverbrooks have also made the list.

02:50 Mark Adelstone and family from Liddemstown Tanns rank 55th wealthiest in the region and

02:56 are worth £160 million.

02:59 Adelstone chairs Beaverbrooks which began trading in 1919 when three brothers started

03:05 selling silverware from a suitcase.

Preston billionaire Michael Platt - who is he and how did he get rich?

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