The National Business Review annual rich list has found Aotearoa’s wealthiest people are collectively worth more than $100 billion – up from $95.55 billion last year – despite a tough 12 months financially.
Around a dozen newcomers, worth $4.3b altogether, are among the 119 individuals and families profiled in the 2025 NBR Rich List.
The co-founders of Zuru Toys, the brothers Nick and Mat Mowbray, meanwhile, retain the top spot with a $20 billion valuation.
Overall, New Zealand now has 18 billionaires, up from 16 last year.
NBR co-editor Hamish McNicol said the addition of the newcomers, as well as growth among some of the country’s wealthiest, had pushed the total valuation of this year’s Rich List to $102.1b, more than 40% of the nation’s GDP.
Those on the newcomers list include Jamie Beaton, after the company he co-founded, Crimson Education, was valued at more than $1b in a capital raise last November.
He is alongside several families who McNichol said have been operating and building businesses over the last few decades.
Retail rich listers ‘struggling’
He said there were “notable winners” but also a number of rich listers were “struggling, as well”.
They included retailers, such as Briscoes director Rod Duke and Warehouse founder Sir Stephen Tindall.
Others had had their fortunes slashed after the US trade tariffs were introduced, he said, including Jim and Rosemari Delegat, the siblings who run winemaker Delegat Group and export around half their product.
“They were billionaires a couple of years ago, but we’ve assessed their worth at about $235 million as with tariffs coming in they’re struggling a bit at the moment.”
Some property rich listers had done well by investing in the sector, despite the “interesting times out there for commercial and residential property at the moment”.
The women’s rich list
The 2025 rich list included two women, featured in their own right, for the first time since 2019, when a $100m threshold was introduced, McNichol said.
They are: Anna Mowbray, former Zuru co-founder who has since built a wide-ranging portfolio of investments, and Lucy Liu, the co-founder of global online payments company Airwallex. Liu’s company was valued at more than $10b in a capital raise in May.
This year NBR has also launched a Women’s Rich List, McNichol added.
“We recognised we were not profiling many women as part of the overall rich list and there’s a bunch of research out there about how women generally find it a lot more difficult to raise capital, and build businesses because of a whole bunch of systemic things.
“We wanted to highlight some of the country’s top businesswomen this year, and we’ve profiled 14 as part of this year’s rich list. We roughly estimate they’re all worth between $20 and $100 million. It’s a group of people to watch, as well.”
PM says billionaires should be celebrated
Asked about the increase in billionaires in the current economic crisis, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said it was something that should be recognised.
“Isn’t it fantastic that we have got people with ambition, aspiration and positivity, and we should be celebrating success. I know how hard people work in New Zealand, and there [are] some pretty inspirational stories.
“As a country we want people to be able to move themselves from one set of circumstances to a better set of circumstances, and it’s okay to celebrate this success.
“But I just also say to you that I know New Zealanders are doing it tough and it’s important that we are doing everything we can as a government to create the conditions for growth. That’s what we have been doing and that’s what our Budget is doing.”
McNicholl said that no politicians have made the list this year.
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