Richardsons rank higher on wealth list

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This article was published 02/12/2010 (5676 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

You’ll have to excuse the Richardsons if they merely shrug in response to all the talk of a recession and a struggling economy.

The royal family of Winnipeg’s business community nailed down 13th place on Canadian Business magazine’s annual Rich 100 list with a net worth of $2.86 billion, up 4.9 per cent from a year ago when they were 15th.

James Cowan, deputy editor at the Toronto-based magazine, attributed the bulk of the Richardsons’ $140-million gain over the past year to their energy holdings.

“It really has to do with the fact that they’re into oil and gas. They have some fairly significant investments in the oilsands and Tundra Oil & Gas. Those seem to be buoying their fortunes,” he said.

Two other Manitobans also cut the muster for the list, which hits newsstands today — Peter Nyg�*rd, the Finnish-born fashionista and former Winnipegger now living in the Bahamas, and Randy Moffat, former CEO and majority shareholder of Moffat Communications. Nyg�*rd sits in 69th spot with a net worth of $883 million, up $8.1 million from a year ago, while Moffat is in 93rd position with a net worth of $613 million, up from $563 million.

The prestigious list is topped, once again, by the family many Winnipeggers hope will have an increased presence in the Manitoba capital — possibly as early as the 2011-12 National Hockey League season. David Thomson, chairman of Thomson Reuters, a dominant player in the electronic information services market, and head of Canada’s most enduring media dynasty, heads up a brood worth a whopping $23.36 billion. He is good friends and business partners with Winnipeg’s Chipman family. The partnership has submitted a proposal to the NHL to buy and relocate a team — both the Phoenix Coyotes and the Atlanta Thrashers are rumoured to be on their radar — to Winnipeg.

To put the Thomsons’ wealth in perspective, their net worth is greater than that of Galen Weston (No. 2 at $8.5 billion), the Irving family (No. 3 at $7.46 billion) and the Rogers family (No. 4 at $6.02 billion) combined.

Cowan said the improvement in Nyg�*rd’s fortunes isn’t surprising considering many of his clothing creations are sold in department stores at a time when shoppers are hunting for bargains.

“His doing well is a reflection of the kinds of products he sells and the particular appeal they would have right now,” he said.

Meanwhile, the net worth of Moffat, who spends most of his time focusing on philanthropic endeavours since selling the company to Shaw Communications in 2001, has oscillated recently between $563 million and $598 million.

“The story of his wealth the last three or four years is the story of the stock market as a whole,” Cowan said.

Although the Asper family hasn’t made the grade since 2007 — only seven years ago, they were neck and neck with the Richardsons with a net worth of $1.13 billion — their fingerprints can be found on this year’s Rich 100. J.R. Shaw, the executive chairman of Calgary-based Shaw Communications, which picked up the broadcasting assets of Canwest Global Communications earlier this year, saw his net worth ring in at $1.41 billion, good for 42nd spot, up more than 20 per cent from a year ago.

“Some portion of that (increase) can be attributed to his pouncing on the carcass of the Asper empire,” Cowan said.

If there was any question the richest of the rich are getting richer, the net worth of the entrepreneurs on this year’s list is $183.3 billion, up about $50 billion from a year ago. Last year, the cut-off was the Molson family at $486 million. This year, 100th place belongs to André Chagnon, founder of Videotron, a Quebec-based telecommunications company, with a net worth of $540 million.

The magazine came to its rankings by sending researchers to scour proxy circulars, insider trading reports and other sources, as well as asking the well-to-do directly what they were worth.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca