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?
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?
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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.