How Did Rishi Sunak Make His Money?

Rishi Sunak is best known as the Prime Minister of England. He took the position on October 25, 2022, after former MP Liz Truss stepped down after fewer than 50 days in office.

He is also the leader of the Conservative Party. He became the party’s leader one day before taking the PM’s office. No member of the Conservative Party objected to the move.

Before starting his career in politics, Rishi worked as an investment analyst, hedge fund manager, and venture capitalist. He has held jobs at Goldman Sachs, The Children’s Investment Fund Management, Theleme Partners, and Cataraman Ventures.

Why Is Rishi Sunak Famous?

Sunak entered politics in 2014 when the Conservative Party chose him as its candidate for Richmond (York). It took a couple of years for him to stand out as one of England’s most ambitious politicians, though.

He gained considerable popularity in 2016 by supporting Britain’s plan to leave the European Union. Partly due to his support of Brexit, Sunak gained an even larger percentage of votes when he ran for re-election.

He became the Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 2019, a rapid rise in popularity for someone with less than a decade of experience as a public official.

Rishi benefitted from several disruptions within the Conservative Party.In 2019, Boris Johnson was chosen as the Prime Minister of England.

Johnson, who had served earlier as London’s mayor, had a challenging period in office fraught with in-fighting among his cabinet members, surging energy prices, and the ongoing repercussions of Brexit. He also faced numerous scandals, drawing comparisons to former U.S. president Donald Trump. At the end of Johnson’s term, he was replaced by Liz Truss.

She served the shorter term in modern British history. Truss resigned from the position 45 days after taking office. She largely resigned because she supported and helped pass a budget that cut taxes while rocking the country’s financial markets. Sunak was one of the most qualified Conservative Party members to replace Truss.

Although he supports Brexit and many other conservative policies, he is considered a moderate within the party. After the highly conservative approaches of Johnson and Truss, some members of the party wanted to show that it had politicians willing to compromise without abandoning the party’s core values.

Sunank hasn’t faced any serious controversies. His family’s East African origins also helped protect Sunak from accusations of racism that have plagued many pro-Brexit politicians, including Johnson and Truss. Today, Rishi is one of the most influential politicians in the world.

How Much Money Has Rishi Sunak Got?

Rishi Sunak and his family have roughly $844 million. Many have pointed out that he has about twice as much money as King Charles. Sunak is almost certainly the wealthiest PM in Britain’s history.

It’s difficult to measure the wealth of prime ministers and other politicians who served the country hundreds of years ago, but certainly Rishi ranks among the top.

He later became the director of investment at Catamaran Ventures, a company owned by his father-in-law N. R. Narayana Murthy. He held the position at Catamaran Ventures from 2013 to 2015.

Was Rishi Sunak an Investment Banker?

Rishi Sunak has worked as an investment banker and hedge fund manager at several companies, including Goldman Sachs and the Children’s Investment Fund Management.

He had a job at Goldman Sachs from 2001 to 2004.

After leaving and attending Stanford, he worked at the Children’s Investment Fund Management, becoming a partner in 2006.

He left the Children’s Investment Fund Management in 2009 to join former colleagues at Theleme Partners. Theleme Partners oversaw about $700 million in investments.

Rishi Sunak Goldman Sachs

After earning a degree from Lincoln College, Oxford, Rishi became an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. He stayed at Goldman Sachs from 2001 to 2004. During those years, he primarily served as a junior analyst focused on U.S. stocks.

This must have been a difficult period, not least because it coincided with the 9/11 terrorist attacks that upset the U.S. culture and economy.

Goldman Sachs let go more than 10% of its staff during the period after 9/11, though Sunak was able to retain his position within the bank.

After leaving Goldman, Sunak attended Stanford University on a Fulbright scholarship. He earned a master’s in business administration (MBA) at the California school. This is also where he met his future wife, Akshata Murthy.

Murthy is an Indian-born businesswoman and venture capitalist. She has also worked as a fashion designer. Notably, she’s the daughter of Infosys founder N. R. Narayana Murthy, who has a net worth over $4 billion.

How Did Rishi Sunak Make His Money?

Rishi undoubtedly made a lot of money working at Goldman Sachs and other companies. He might have even made enough money to get listed as a multi-millionaire.

Still, the undeniable truth is that most of Sunak’s money comes from his wife, Akshata, who he married in 2009.

Since they were married before Rishi Sunak entered public life, it’s nearly impossible to know how much he brought to the relationship compared to his wife.

How Much Is the Sunak Family Worth?

The Sunak family is reportedly worth about $844 million. This has led some members of the Labour Party to criticize Rishi Sunak, saying he cannot possibly understand the financial realities that the average British family faces.

The Sunak family’s investments have been managed by a blind trust since 2019 when Rishi became the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

A blind trust is intended to benefit politicians without swaying their decisions as public servants. Without a blind trust, PM Sunak might feel tempted to make decisions that would benefit his family’s investments more than the English people. The blind trust helps protect citizens from such corruption.

Critics argue that the blind trust also prevents the public from knowing how its leaders earn money from investments. While true, it seems like a much better alternative than letting politicians control their investments while holding office.

Even with the blind trust, the Sunak family earns millions of pounds per year from its wealth. In 2021, the couple made the equivalent of about $15.2 million from dividends alone. At this rate, the Sunak family could become billionaires within about a decade.

It’s also possible that Akshata could inherit money from her father, who is in his mid-70s. Akshata has one sister who would likely receive a part of the inheritance.

Her mother would also probably retain a sizeable amount of the estate. Still, her family’s net worth exceeds $4 billion, so she would only need to receive a portion of the wealth for her and her husband to become billionaires.

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