Who’s the richest woman in the UK?
The highest-paid woman in British corporate history pockets a cool £220m a year – excluding dividends
Online gambling mogul Denise Coates is the best-paid woman in the world and the sixth richest person in the UK, according to the latest issue of Forbes magazine.
Coates, who founded the gambling group Bet365 and is worth an estimated $6.5bn, is the only British woman to make Forbes’s richest people in the world list who isn’t ranked alongside a spouse or other family members. Arcadia Group owners Christina and Philip Green are 617th richest in the world, while real estate moguls Maritsa Lazari and her family sit at number 916.
All other UK billionaires are male.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The female boss, who ranks at 244 on Forbes’s list, is the founder and co-chief executive of the online gambling firm Bet365. The 51-year-old and her brother John – the UK’s 19th richest person – own the company alongside other members of their direct family, including their father, Bet365 chairman Peter Coates.
Bet365 is the largest private sector employer in Stoke. Millions of customers worldwide use the website to take part in sports betting, poker, casino games and bingo. Online gambling has been on the rise for years – last year Bet365 saw its revenues increase by 25%.
Coates sparked outrage last year for awarding herself a salary of £220m, excluding dividends, a record-breaking pay packet that made her the highest-paid CEO in the UK. Her salary rose by £145m from 2016 to 2017, an increase the BBC attributes to online gambling’s rising popularity.
The entrepreneur’s pay is more than 9,500 times the average UK salary, 1,700 times that of the prime minister and more than double that of the Stoke City football team, which Bet365 owns, says The Guardian.
Coates, who graduated with a first in econometrics from Sheffield University, began her career at the high street betting firm. In 2000, she saw the potential of online gambling and invested in the domain Bet365.com.
She launched the website the following year.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
How Harris and Trump differ on education
The Explainer Trump wants to disband the Department of Education. Harris wants to boost teacher pay.
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
How to minimize capital gains tax on investments
The Explainer It can take a chunk out of your profits
By Becca Stanek, The Week US Published
-
Crossword: November 4, 2024
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
Labour shortages: the ‘most urgent problem’ facing the UK economy right now
Speed Read Britain is currently in the grip of an ‘employment crisis’
By The Week Staff Published
-
Will the energy war hurt Europe more than Russia?
Speed Read European Commission proposes a total ban on Russian oil
By The Week Staff Published
-
Will Elon Musk manage to take over Twitter?
Speed Read The world’s richest man has launched a hostile takeover bid worth $43bn
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Shoppers urged not to buy into dodgy Black Friday deals
Speed Read Consumer watchdog says better prices can be had on most of the so-called bargain offers
By The Week Staff Published
-
Ryanair: readying for departure from London
Speed Read Plans to delist Ryanair from the London Stock Exchange could spell ‘another blow’ to the ‘dwindling’ London market
By The Week Staff Published
-
Out of fashion: Asos ‘curse’ has struck again
Speed Read Share price tumbles following the departure of CEO Nick Beighton
By The Week Staff Published
-
Universal Music’s blockbuster listing: don’t stop me now…
Speed Read Investors are betting heavily that the ‘boom in music streaming’, which has transformed Universal’s fortunes, ‘still has a long way to go’
By The Week Staff Published
-
EasyJet/Wizz: battle for air supremacy
Speed Read ‘Wizz’s cheeky takeover bid will have come as a blow to the corporate ego’
By The Week Staff Published