List of Canadians by net worth

The following list of Canadians by net worth includes the wealthiest Canadian individuals and families as determined by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and The World's Billionaires by Forbes . In addition to Bloomberg and Forbes, some other organizations and publications also measure the wealth of high net-worth individuals and families.

List of Canadians by net worth

Several publications have produced listings of the world's wealthiest people by net worth, including Bloomberg and Forbes . However, there are differences between these listings, with the number of billionaires that exist, as well as their estimated net worth.

According to Canadian Business , in November 2017 there were at least 100 Canadian billionaires when using the Canadian dollar to evaluate net worth. ^{[1] [2]} This number differs from The World's Billionaires by Forbes, and the Bloomberg Billionaires Index , as they both use the United States dollar to evaluate net worth. ^{[3] [4]} Publications may also provide different estimates for an individual's net worth, leading to disagreement between the publications. ^{[5] [6]}

Several Canadian individuals/families that hold multiple citizenships and have a net worth exceeding C$1 billion may also not be listed as Canadians by the aforementioned publications. For example, Elon Musk, considered to be the richest person in the world in 2021, holds multiple citizenships, including Canadian citizenship; ^{[6] [7] [note 1]} although Bloomberg and Forbes' listing of billionaires list Musk as an American. ^{[4] [8]}

Bloomberg

Bloomberg L.P. maintains a daily ranking of the net worth analysis of the world's richest people in the world on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which is updated "at the close of every trading day in New York", with the Top 500 provided online each day. The individual results are also published on the profile page of each billionaire. ^[9] Bloomberg's listing only evaluates the net worth of individuals. ^[9]

The following is a list of the wealthiest individuals, in the world's Top 500, with "Canada" listed as their "Country/Region" according to Bloomberg's daily listing, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as of 1 June 2024 ^[update] . ^[10]

List of wealthiest Canadians (Bloomberg, 1 July 2024) ^{[10] [note 2]}

World rank	Canadian rank	Name	Net worth (USD)	Industry
42	1	Changpeng Zhao	$37.9 billion	Finance
101	2	Sherry Brydson [note 3]	$19.7 billion	Media & Telecom
178	3	David Thomson [note 3]	$12.2 billion	Media & Telecom
		Taylor Thomson [note 3]	$12.2 billion	Media & Telecom
		Peter Thomson [note 3]	$12.2 billion	Media & Telecom
262	6	Linda Campbell [note 3]	$9.57 billion	Media & Telecom
		Gaye Farncombe [note 3]	$9.57 billion	Media & Telecom
267	8	David Cheriton	$9.37 billion	Technology
367	9	Alain Bouchard	$7.29 billion	Retail
408	10	Jim Pattison	$6.75 billion	Media & Telecom
476	11	Chip Wilson	$6.12 billion	Retail
488	12	Tobi Lütke	$5.92 billion	Technology

Forbes

Forbes magazine's annual listing of billionaires entitled The World's Billionaires is based on March 10, 2023, "stock prices and exchange rates" in US dollars. ^[13] They collaborate with FactSet Research Systems, Orbis, PitchBook Data, Real Capital Analytics, Reonomy, S&P Capital IQ, and VesselsValue to collect data. ^[14]

Forbes will typically list individuals rather than multigenerational families with shared wealth, although their listing will consolidate the wealth belonging to a billionaire's spouse and children if that person is the founder of the fortune. ^[13]

The following is a list of the wealthiest Canadian individuals and families according to the Forbes' annual The World's Billionaires listing for 2023.

List of wealthiest Canadians (Forbes, 2023) ^{[13] [note 2]}

World rank	Name	Net worth (USD)	Source of wealth
22	David Thomson & family	US$54.4 billion	Media
167	Changpeng Zhao	US$10.5 billion	Cryptocurrency exchange
202	Jim Pattison	US$9.5 billion	Diversified
215	David Cheriton	US$9 billion	Google
290	Joseph Tsai	US$7.6 billion	E-commerce
425	Alain Bouchard	US$6 billion	Convenience stores
445	Arthur Irving	US$5.7 billion	Oil
466	James K. Irving	US$5.5 billion	Diversified
511	Mark Scheinberg	US$5.2 billion	Online gambling
534	Chip Wilson	US$5 billion	Lululemon
552	Lino Saputo & family	US$4.9 billion	Cheese
580	Carlo Fidani	US$4.7 billion	Real estate
636	Daryl Katz	US$4.3 billion	Pharmacies
699	Tobias Lütke	US$4 billion	E-commerce
787	Leonid Boguslavsky	US$3.6 billion	Venture capital
787	Bob Gaglardi	US$3.6 billion	Hotels
787	Lawrence Stroll	US$3.6 billion	Fashion investments
818	Barry Zekelman	US$3.5 billion	Steel
878	Peter Gilgan	US$3.3 billion	Homebuilding
878	Stephen Smith	US$3.3 billion	Finance and investments
949	Ryan Cohen	US$3.1 billion	Investments
982	Jean Coutu & family	US$3 billion	Pharmacies
1,027	Jacques D'Amours & family	US$2.9 billion	Convenience stores
1,067	Garrett Camp	US$2.8 billion	Uber
1,104	N. Murray Edwards	US$2.7 billion	Oil & gas
1,104	Bruce Flatt	US$2.7 billion	Money management
1,104	Pan Dong	US$2.7 billion	Consumer goods
1,164	Mark Leonard & family	US$2.6 billion	Technology
1,217	Charles Bronfman	US$2.5 billion	Liquor
1,217	Serge Godin	US$2.5 billion	Information technology
1,272	Mitchell Goldhar	US$2.5 billion	Real estate
1,368	Chulong Huang	US$2.2 billion	Real estate
1,368	Max Lytvyn	US$2.2 billion	Software
1,368	Alex Shevchenko	US$2.2 billion	Software
1,368	Clayton Zekelman	US$2.2 billion	Steel
1,434	Zhang Ning & family	US$2.1 billion	Chemicals
1,516	Bill Malhotra	US$2 billion	Real estate
1,516	Larry Tanenbaum	US$2 billion	Sports
1,575	Guo Zhenyu & family	US$1.9 billion	Cosmetics
1,647	Robert Miller	US$1.8 billion	Electronic components
1,647	Pierre Karl Péladeau	US$1.8 billion	Media
1,647	Alan Zekelman	US$1.8 billion	Steel
1,725	Jay S. Hennick	US$1.7 billion	Real estate finance
1,725	Hal Jackman	US$1.7 billion	Insurance, investments
1,804	Jack Cockwell	US$1.6 billion	Real estate, private equity
1,804	Richard Fortin	US$1.6 billion	Convenience stores
1,804	Terry Matthews	US$1.6 billion	Telecom
1,905	Stephen A. Jarislowsky	US$1.5 billion	Money management
2,020	Michael Lee-Chin	US$1.4 billion	Mutual funds
2,020	Brandt C. Louie	US$1.4 billion	Pharmacies
2,020	Yuan Liping	US$1.4 billion	Pharmaceuticals
2,133	Stewart Butterfield	US$1.3 billion	Messaging software
2,133	Philip Fayer	US$1.3 billion	Online payments
2,133	Zhao Tongtong	US$1.3 billion	Hotels
2,259	Naomi Azrieli	US$1.2 billion	Real estate
2,259	Sharon Azrieli	US$1.2 billion	Real estate
2,259	Guy Laliberté	US$1.2 billion	Cirque du Soleil
2,259	Francesco Saputo	US$1.2 billion	Cheese
2,259	Gerald Schwartz	US$1.2 billion	Finance
2,540	Apoorva Mehta	US$1 billion	Grocery delivery service
2,540	Réal Plourde	US$1 billion	Convenience stores
2,540	Prem Watsa	US$1 billion	Insurance, investments

Historical

The richest Canadian to have ever lived is believed to be Herbert Samuel Holt, president of 27 corporations (including Royal Bank of Canada and Montreal Light, Heat & Power), and a director of 250 companies worldwide, who had an estimated net worth of CA$3 billion in 1928 (equivalent to $51.8 billion in 2023). ^[15]

Other measurements and rankings of net worth

Statistics Canada

Statistics Canada uses the Survey Financial Security Public Use Microdata File (SFS PUMF) as their principal "family wealth microdata product". ^{[16] : 1, 3}

Parliamentary Budget Officer

In September 2019, the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO)—an independent, non-partisan office that supports the work of parliamentarians by providing authoritative financial and economic analysis of issues related to public monies—published a two-page cost estimate of the "fiscal revenues of an annual tax on the net wealth of high-net-worth families above $20 million". ^{[16] : 3} The report was one of 200, requested by the political parties in the months leading up to the 2019 federal election. ^{[16] : 3} At that time, the main "family wealth microdata product" used by Statistics Canada—the Survey Financial Security Public Use Microdata File (SFS PUMF)—was found to result in "underreporting" and "missing data." ^{[16] : 1, 3} In their 2017 list that ranked Canada's top 100 richest people, Toronto-based Rob McEwen of McEwen Mining, ranked 100th with a net worth of C$875 million, while number 1 on the list—the Toronto-based Thomson family of Thomson Reuters—had a net worth of C$39.13 billion. ^[17] However, the SFS PUMF only reported on the wealth of families with $27 million or less. ^{[16] : 3}

In their June 2020 report, the PBO introduced their new "analytic resource" developed to "address the data gap." Their new modelling approach provides a more reliable estimate of family wealth at the top tail of wealth distribution in Canada. Using publicly available data from Canadian Business (CB) magazine and Statistics Canada's micro dataset, the OPBO created a new synthetic micro dataset called the High-net-worth Family Database (HFD) that recalibrates the SFS PUMF by adding a "synthetic dataset of families with wealth over $3 million". ^{[16] : 1} Using the more finely grained micro data base, PBO found that the share of the wealth held by top 1% wealthiest Canadian families is 12% higher than the share previously reported using the SFS PUMF. The PBO says that the discrepancy may be due to higher incidences of high net worth families not responding to the SFS. ^{[16] : 1} For example, comparing the two surveys based on 2016 data, the SFS PUMF had estimated the wealth held by the top 1% wealthiest Canadians as 13.7%, while the newer calibrated database HFD produced an estimate of 25.6%. ^{[16] : 1}

Canadian Business

Canadian Business, has also published an annual ranking of the wealthiest Canadian individuals and families since 1998. The magazine has published complete rankings of the "100 wealthiest individuals and families in Canada", an "annual guide to the richest people in Canada—how much they're worth, how they made their fortunes, and the companies that got them there." ^[17] The most recent available list is updated to 2018. ^[18] Examples of previous years include 2017, ^[17] 2016, ^[19] 2015, ^[20] 2014, and 2013. ^[21]

The Thomson Family increased their wealth by 30% from over C$26 billion in 2013 ^[21] to over C$30 billion in 2014, ^[21] reaching over C$39.13 billion by 2017. ^[17]

See also

• Lists of people by net worth

Notes

1. Elon Musk holds citizenship from Canada, South Africa, and the United States.
2. The list only includes individuals that were categorized as Canadians by the publication.
3. Member of the Thomson family: Brydson holds a roughly 23% stake in the family's The Woodbridge Company, while her three cousins, the siblings David, Taylor and Peter, hold a roughly 14% stake each, and her other three cousins, the siblings Linda, Susan (died 2017, stake bequeathed to her four children) ^[11] and Gaye, hold a roughly 11% stake each. ^[12]

References

1. "Canada's Richest People 2018: The Top 25 Richest Canadians". Canadian Business. Rogers Media. 9 November 2017. Archived from the original on 12 November 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
2. "Canada's Richest People 2018: The Complete Top 100 Ranking". Canadian Business. Rogers Media. 9 November 2017. Archived from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
3. "45 Canadians make Forbes billionaires list". 5 March 2019. Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
4. "Bloomberg Billionaires Index". Bloomberg. 17 November 2023. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
5. Cuccinello, Haley F. (24 November 2020). "No, Elon Musk Is Not The Second Richest Person In The World -- Here's Why". Forbes. Archived from the original on 15 March 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
6. Clayton, Rachel (7 January 2021). "Elon Musk named richest person in the world according to Bloomberg, Forbes disagrees". ABC News. Archived from the original on 2021-01-08. Retrieved 2021-01-08.
7. Evans, Pete (7 January 2021). "Elon Musk passes Jeff Bezos to become world's richest person on Bloomberg list". www.cbc.ca. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 7 January 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
8. "World's Billionaires List". Forbes. 2020. Archived from the original on 4 January 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
9. "Bloomberg Billionaires Index". Bloomberg. September 30, 2020. Archived from the original on October 17, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
10. "Bloomberg Billionaires Index". Bloomberg. 1 July 2024. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
11. "Obituary: Susan Elaine Grange (nee Campbell)". The Globe and Mail . 2017-10-25. Retrieved 2024-02-19– via Legacy.com.
12. "Bloomberg Billionaires Index | # 291 Linda Campbell $8.19B" . Bloomberg News . 2023-12-14. Archived from the original on 2023-12-20. Retrieved 2024-02-19.
13. "Forbes Billionaires 2023: The Richest in the World". Forbes . 2023. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
14. "Forbes Billionaires 2020". Forbes. Archived from the original on January 4, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
15. Newman, Peter C. (1958-12-20). "The richest Canadian who ever lived". Maclean's . pp. 26–27, 38. Archived from the original on 2022-09-07. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
16. Giroux, Yves (June 17, 2020). Estimating the top tail of the family wealth distribution in Canada (PDF). Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) (Report). p. 28. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 30, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
17. "Canada's Richest People: The Complete Top 100 Ranking (2017)". Canadian Business. December 7, 2016. Archived from the original on October 31, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020. Our 18th annual guide to the richest people in Canada—how much they're worth, how they made their fortunes, and the companies that got them there
18. "Canada's Richest People: The Complete Top 100 Ranking (2018)". Canadian Business. Archived from the original on October 31, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
19. "Canada's Richest People: The Complete Top 100 Ranking (2016)". Canadian Business. December 24, 2015. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
20. "Canada's Richest People: The Complete Top 100 Ranking (2015)". Canadian Business. January 15, 2015. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
21. "Canada's Richest People: The Complete Top 100 Ranking (2014)". Canadian Business. January 9, 2014. Archived from the original on November 27, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.