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Bernie Ecclestone, the 73rd Richest Person in the UK, Is Worth £2.498 Billion

By Sunayna Kanjilal
Updated On : 06:26 PST, Jan 22, 2024

Bernie Ecclestone, the 73rd Richest Person in the UK, Is Worth £2.498 Billion

Getty Images | Mark Thompson

Former Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone has been named one of the wealthiest people in the UK. He is part of the 2023 Sunday Times Rich List. The 92-year-old is worth £2.498 billion through his involvement with F1, which bagged him the 73rd position on the list, one place up, compared to the 2022 ranking.

Nobody is a stranger to the rainmaker of F1 and the remarkable story that made him who he is today. Starting out as a manager of driver Stuart Lewis Evans, the world saw Ecclestone work his way up the system to become the head of the Formula One Constructors Association and also Management (FOM), netting him 50% of F1’s revenue, as per Planetf1.

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Who Is Bernie Ecclestone?

Bernie Ecclestone was born on October 28, 1930, to a fisherman in Suffolk. He made his foray into the world of motorsport by trading spare parts for motorbikes before he branched out into Formula 3 racing cars.

Ecclestone has been married three times and has three daughters and a son. His eldest, Deborah was born in 1955, and Tamara his second daughter was born in 1984. She went on to make a name for herself, as a model and TV host. His third daughter Petra was born in 1988 and his son with his current wife Fabiana Flosi was born in 2020, as per The Sun.

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Bernie Ecclestone: The Story Behind The Billion Dollar F1 Empire

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In 1951, 21-year-old Ecclestone acquired a 500cc Cooper F3 racing car and raced mostly at Brand's Hatch, a local circuit in the English county of Suffolk. However, his short but not-so-unsuccessful career came to an end when he collided with Bill Whitehouse, who survived the crash only to be killed in an F2 crash at Rheims.

Bernie on the other hand was thrown out of the cockpit and landed in the public car park. After a short break following the crash, he entered into a number of businesses and demonstrated his financial capabilities. He returned to the motor racing world in 1957 and became a manager of British F1 driver Stuart Lewos-Ewans and also took hold of the Connaught F1 team for whom Lewis raced. In 1971, Bernie bought the Brambham F1 team from Ron Tauranoc for $120,000 and 17 years later sold it for a whopping $5,000,000.

How Much Did Bernie Ecclestone Sell Formula 1 For?

Bernie Ecclestone sold the commercial rights of Formula 1 to Liberty Media in January 2017 after he scored an approval from the sport's governing body.

FIA said that the partnership with Liberty will "ensure the continued success and development" of F1. The takeover of the sports cost the American company around £6.4 billion.

His four-decade reign finally came to an end after he finally handed over the commercial rights to Liberty Media who wanted to change the way the sport is run. Ecclestone was replaced by an American executive, Chase Carey.

"I would like to thank Bernie for his leadership over the decades. The sport is what it is today because of him and the talented team of executives he has led, and he will always be part of the F1 family," Carey said in a statement per The Guardian.

"Bernie’s role as chairman emeritus befits his tremendous contribution to the sport and I am grateful for his continued insight and guidance as we build F1 for long-term success and the enjoyment of all those involved."