Sir David and Frederick Barclay have been named the richest people in media in Britain with a £2.3bn fortune, while tough times at Richard Desmond's Northern & Shell business has seen his wealth slashed by almost £150m.
The 78-year-old Barclay twins, owners of the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, have been named at the top of the 2013 Sunday Times Rich List of people in publishing, PR and advertising in Britain.
The brothers, who also own assets including the Ritz Hotel, where Lady Thatcher was staying at the time of her death, increased their wealth by £100m compared with last year's rich list.
But it was a bad year for Northern & Shell owner Richard Desmond who dropped from second to third place as his £1bn fortune dipped by £140m, according to the Sunday Times's calculations.
The view of the compilers of the list was that Desmond's media assets – which include Channel 5, OK! magazine and the Daily Express, Sunday Express, Daily Star and Daily Star Sunday – are "generally underperforming".
Viscount Rothermere and family, controlling shareholder of Daily Mail and Metro publisher Daily Mail & General Trust, slipped back £40m to £720m – fourth on the media rich list.
Elisabeth Murdoch and Matthew Freud made their first appearance in the media list – although not the overall rich list where they rank 315th – as they derive some of their wealth from PR.
The power couple ranked 12th in the UK media list with a £255m combined fortune.
Lord Heseltine and family, owners of Haymarket Publishing, the company behind titles including Campaign, re-entered the list for the first time since 2010 with a ranking of 11th and a fortune of £264m.
Questions over the state of Heseltine's finances – which included putting up assets including his 18th century mansion and 55-acre estate in Thenford, Northamptonshire, as security in debt restructuring negotations with RBS – meant he has been kept out of the list for two years.
The 25-strong media rich list also includes Sir Martin Sorrell, founder of advertising group WPP, at 14th with a £36m boost taking his estimated personal wealth to £210m.
Lord (Maurice) and Charles Saatchi, co-founders of M&C Saatchi, increased their fortune slightly to £135m.
Despite the shaky state of regional press Sir Ray Tindle, owner of newspaper publisher Tindle Press Holdings, slightly increased his fortune to £130m.
Alan Parker, the founder and chairman of City PR firm Brunswick, boosted his fortune by £9m to hit £104m and secure 23rd on the media list.
Sunday Times Rich List – top 25 in publishing, advertising and PR
Wealth in 2013 (2012 figure in brackets):
1. Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay: £2.35bn (£2.25bn)
2. The Thomson family: £1.1bn (£700m)
3. Richard Desmond: £860m (£1,000)
4. Viscount Rothermere and family: £720m (£760m)
5. Mark Getty and family: £650m (£330m)
6. Felix Dennis: £500m (£500m)
7. Paddy McNally £440m: (£515m)
8. Cristina Stenbeck: £405m (£369m)
9. Viscount Cowdray and the Pearson family: £400m (£500m)
10. Mike Danson: £376m (£310m)
11. Lord Heseltine and family: £264m (-)
12. Elisabeth Murdoch and Matthew Freud: £255m (£251m)
13. Lord Iliffe and family: £245m (£266m)
14. Sir Martin Sorrell: £210m (£174m)
15. Jonathan Klein: £200m (-)
16. Neil Hutchinson: £178m (£123m)
17= Mike Luckwell: £135m (£135m)
17= Lord and Charles Saatchi: £135m (£135m)
19. Philip and Patricia Brown: £132m (£132m)
20. Sir Ray Tindle: £130m (£125m)
21. Gregory Nasmyth and family: £115m (£85m)
22. Nick Forman Hardy and family: £105m (£102m)
23. Alan Parker: £104m (£95m)
24. Sir John Madejski: £100m (£150m)
25. Martyn Rose: £75m (£72m)
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