Yahoo Finance Vacuum king Dyson boosts $16 billion fortune with mega dividend
By Ben Stupples
(Bloomberg) — James Dyson’s technology firm shifted another 10-figure dividend to his family holding company last year as the vacuum magnate accelerates building up his fortune outside his largest asset.
Dyson Holdings paid £1.2 billion ($1.5 billion) to Singapore-based Weybourne Holdings in 2022, according to registry filings, the largest annual cash transfer for the UK billionaire’s investment group. It previously disclosed almost half of that total last year.
A representative for Dyson declined to comment.
Dyson, 76, is shifting ever-larger sums out of his namesake firm as he expands bets across finance, real estate and agriculture to diversify one of the world’s largest fortunes. That includes another 10-figure dividend in 2021, helping to take the total amount transferred from his namesake firm over the past five years to about £4.3 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
His business empire now includes an insurance unit built up within the past few years to help protect Dyson’s personal and financial affairs, while Weybourne Holdings surfaced last year as an investor in a Berlin-based fund from early-stage investment firm Cherry Ventures, filings show.
Dyson’s namesake farming unit received extra funds last year for investments, further enhancing the British billionaire’s status as the one of the UK’s biggest land owners. He also owns a French vineyard and country estate where they’re building a gallery to showcase a private art collection featuring works from Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and David Hockney.
Dyson, a Royal College of Art graduate, is the UK’s second-richest person with a net worth of about $15.8 billion, with most of his fortune still derived from his technology firm, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Dyson founded his technology business in the early 1990s and has expanded its products to fans, hair dryers and noise-canceling headphones. In 2019, the firm announced plans to set up a global headquarters in Singapore that opened last year, when it pledged more than $1 billion to expand research and engineering capabilities. The company also plans to bolster its presence in the Philippines, where it already has a factory producing electrical motors.
Dyson has taken funds out of his firm through dividends and transfers of share capital to the Singapore holding company, which doesn’t publish consolidated results. His namesake firm’s borrowing more than doubled since 2019 to £762 million at the end of last year, filings show.
Dyson’s family office – also named Weybourne – helps to oversee his various business interests. It’s among the world’s largest with more than 70 employees globally and is led by former British army officer James Bucknall, 64. Former fund manager Bjorn Thelander, 58, is chief investment officer.
Dyson Holdings reported revenue of £6.5 billion in 2022, an 8.5% increase from 12 months earlier, despite facing shortages in its supply chain and closing its Russia business due to the invasion of Ukraine. Total income remained flat at about £1 billion.
—With assistance from Yoojung Lee and Ian Sayson.
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.
