canadian billionaires

Here's how many Canadian citizens are now billionaires

Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffet, Kylie Jenner... you could probably name a dozen American billionaires off the top of your head right now if asked — but can you think of even one Canadian who's made it into the 10 figures club?

With 41 billionaires, Canada doesn't have nearly as much personal wealth floating around as our friends in The States, which boasts 705 ultra rich people as of 2019.

You can find out who rules the north (financially) in CEOWORLD's annual "Rich List Index" 2019 for Canada, as released this week.

It's unlikely you'll recognize many names, and even less likely you'd know their faces: Almost every single one of Canada's billionaires look more like a dapper grandpa than a flashy tycoon.

He (yes, they're all hes) could walk down any street in the country without prompting a second look, with the possible exception of Bay Street in Toronto, where people literally get paid to know about who has how much money.

Canada's richest man by far is David Thomson, 3rd Baron Thomson of Fleet, with a net worth of $39 billion, much of it inherited wealth.

Described on Wikipedia as "a Canadian-British hereditary peer and media magnate," Thomson took over what's now known as Thomson Reuters when his father died in 2006.

The country's second-wealthiest citizen is Alibaba co-founder Joseph Tsai, who holds both Canadian and Taiwanese passports, but appears to have spent most of his life living in the United States.

He owns the Brooklyn Nets, among other professional sports team stakes, and is worth 10.2 $billion

Galen Weston of Loblaws fame comes in third this year with $9 billion worth of assets in his name. He was born in England and sired the guy with the glasses in all those President's Choice commercials.

Below is the full list, for those interested. Here's to hoping it will one day look less white, less male, less old and less British.

  1. David Thomson: $39 billion
  2. Joseph Tsai: $10.2 billion
  3. Galen Weston: $9 billion
  4. David Cheriton: $6.4 billion
  5. James Irving: $6.3 billion
  6. Jim Pattison: $5.7 billion
  7. Huang Chulong: $5.6 billion
  8. Emanuele (Lino) Saputo: $5.1 billion
  9. Chip Wilson: $4.6 billion
  10. Mark Scheinberg: $4.5 billion
  11. Alain Bouchard: $4.1 billion
  12. Peter Gilgan: $4 billion
  13. Arthur Irving: $3.5 billion
  14. Daryl Katz: $3.1 billion
  15. Bob Gaglardi: $3 billion
  16. Tobi Lutke: $2.9 billion
  17. Garrett Camp: $2.7 billion
  18. Robert Miller: $2.7 billion
  19. Mitchell Goldhar: $2.7 billion
  20. Lawrence Stroll: $2.6 billion
  21. Jean Coutu: $2.5 billion
  22. Michael Lee-Chin: $2.4 billion
  23. Carlo Fidani: $2.3 billion
  24. Serge Godin: $2.3 billion
  25. Charles Bronfman: $2.3 billion
  26. Jacques D’Amours: $2.1 billion
  27. Pierre Karl Péladeau: $1.8 billion
  28. Stephen Smith: $1.8 B $2 billion
  29. Marcel Adams: $1.7 billion
  30. Stephen Jarislowsky: $1.6 billion
  31. Hal Jackman: $1.6 billion
  32. Gerald Schwartz: $1.6 billion
  33. Mark Leonard: $1.5 billion
  34. N. Murray Edwards: $1.4 billion
  35. Bruce Flatt: $1.4 billion
  36. Brandt Louie: $1.4 billion
  37. Peter Szulczewski: $1.4 billion
  38. K. Rai Sahi: $1.3 billion
  39. Jack Cockwell: $1.3 billion
  40. Terence (Terry) Matthews: $1.2 billion
  41. Guy Laliberté: $1 billion
Lead photo by

Ryan Stefan


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