10. Sir David & Sir Frederick Barclay

Twins' fortune falls by £600m

£1,000m

Ellerman Investments

2008: £1,600m (-£600m)

Taking a large stake in Intercontinental Hotels has not been a particularly profitable investment for the Barclay brothers. Their stake has lost value in the economic downturn and is now worth £244m.

Still, the low-key twins have been busy investing in their businesses, which include hotels, property, mail order and The Daily Telegraph. At the start of the year, they bought the brand name of collapsed high street chain Woolworths and some sub-brands, such as Ladybird Clothing, through their Shop Direct Group for £7m.

Shop Direct, owner of high street mail-order group Littlewoods, has resurrected the Woolworths name as an internet-only business.

The twins, 74, started on the road to wealth in the 1960s London property market. Their first coup came in 1983 when they bought Ellerman Lines for £48m. They later sold the assets, making over £250m.

Their companies are having mixed fortunes at present. Littlewoods showed a strong performance at Christmas with sales up 9%. But the 2007 accounts of Ellerman Investments, which includes the Barclays' flagship concern, London's Ritz hotel, revealed losses of £25m, compared with £8.7m in 2006.

However, we can see more than £1.6bn of net assets in the 2007-08 accounts of the main operating companies. With much lower hotel, property and media values this year, we cut the value of the Barclays to around £1bn.

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Image from Rex Features