A £650m fraud settlement agreed by former Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone made him the second-biggest taxpayer in the UK last year, according to the Sunday Times Tax List.
The 93-year billionaire businessman was spared jail last after admitting failing to declare more than £400m held in a trust in Singapore to the government.
He agreed to settle £652.6m over tax he was meant to pay to HM Revenue & Customs during 18 years starting in 1994.
As a result, the tax list researchers said Mr Ecclestone was the second-highest individual taxpayer in the country.
The top slot was taken by Alex Gerko, a Russian-born financial trader and founder of XTX Markets, at £664.5m.
Third on the list were Denise, John and Peter Coates, the family behind online gambling giant Bet365. They paid £375.9m.
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The gambling fortune of Fred and Peter Done and family put them in fourth place at £204.6m, closely followed by Wetherspoon founder Sir Tim Martin on £167.1m.
The youngest single taxpayer to make the top 100 list was singer Ed Sheeran, 32, who paid £39.6m to the exchequer.
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The boxer Anthony Joshua was a new entry on the list this year, paying an estimated £12.2m.
In total, the 100 individuals and families paid £5.3bn in tax – 3.3% more than a year ago.
But the bumper contributions by Mr Gerko and Mr Ecclestone are stripped out, the total from the remaining 98 entries is down by £200m – the same amount the government pledged to the NHS to boost winter resilience.
Tax List compiler Robert Watts said: “This has been the highest taxing government since the Second World War and although the total tax take is up – it is only by 3.3%.
“Bernie Ecclestone seems to have saved Jeremy Hunt’s blushes. The total tax found in this year’s research would have been a wedge lower were it not for the vast sum shelled out by the Formula One tycoon to settle a long-running investigation.”
The researchers said that Akshata Murty, the wife of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, was liable for tax of around £4.8m after she gave up her non-dom status following political pressure. It was not enough to get her included on the list.
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“If you look at the bottom 98 in this year’s list they paid £4.03bn, £200m less than last year,” Mr Watts said.
“That’s the amount the government pledged to the NHS to boost winter resilience. Two thirds of the wealthy individuals in 2023’s Tax List were found to have paid less tax this year.
“That was usually because their businesses have reported lower profits. But lower tax receipts from the UK’s richest people may raise more than the odd eyebrow at a time when the public finances remain stretched and there is talk of budget giveaways in the air.”
Henry Birch, the former boss of Rank Group, is among the candidates vying to run Entain, the FTSE-100 owner of Ladbrokes.
Sky News has learnt that Mr Birch is one of a small number of candidates being considered by Entain to replace Jette Nygaard-Andersen as its permanent chief executive.
The recruitment process comes at a challenging time for Entain, which has been beset by boardroom upheaval and regulatory difficulties in various international markets.
Its stock has halved in the last year, leaving it with a market capitalisation of just under £5bn.
This weekend, sources close to the company confirmed that Mr Birch was a serious contender for the post, although they said others were also in contention.
An appointment could still be weeks or even a small number of months away, they added.
Mr Birch stepped down as chief executive of Very Group, the online retailer owned by the Barclay family, in 2022.
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He is an experienced gambling industry executive, having spent four years as chief executive of William Hill Online prior to joining the London-listed multichannel gaming operator Rank Group.
He has also held roles at Leisure & Gaming plc and BettingCorp.
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Under Mr Birch, Very Group broke the £2bn annual sales mark for the first time.
Investors in Entain have been pressing its board to recruit a new chief executive with substantial gambling experience as it grapples with a plunging share price and numerous regulatory and strategic challenges.
Industry sources said that Dan Taylor, chief executive of Flutter Entertainment’s international operations, had also been approached, although it was unclear whether he was interested.
Entain has been under siege from activist investors for months.
In January, it announced that Ricky Sandler, who runs Entain shareholder Eminence Capital, would join its board as a non-executive director.
Last month, it said that Barry Gibson, its chairman, would retire later this year and be replaced by interim chair, and former acting CEO, Stella David.
Entain has hired bankers to sell PartyPoker and other non-core operations, which the Financial Times reported could include Netherlands-based BetCity, which Entain bought for £398mn last year.
As well as Ladbrokes, Entain owns Coral and a stake in BetMGM, a major US betting player.
MGM Resorts, the US casino operator behind the Bellagio in Las Vegas, attempted to buy Entain in 2021 but was rebuffed at a much higher valuation than the UK company’s shares trade at now.
A privately owned used-car platform is circling Cazoo Group, its stricken US-listed rival which is on the brink of administration.
Sky News has learnt that Motors.co.uk is a leading contender to acquire Cazoo’s marketplace operation, which would include its brand and intellectual property assets.
The process to auction the used-car platform’s constituent parts comes after it spent tens of millions of pounds on sponsorship deals in football, snooker and darts in a rapid attempt to gain market share.
Earlier this week, Cazoo filed a notice of intention to appoint Teneo as administrator, just three years after it floated in New York with a valuation of $8bn.
The filing was intended to provide protection from creditors while Teneo finalises asset sales.
Since an announcement last month about a restructuring of the group, advisers have offloaded a string of assets and unwound Cazoo’s previous operating model to transform it into a marketplace.
Among those have been the disposal of Cazoo’s vehicle fleet, which sources said had been achieved at higher-than-anticipated values, reflecting a current shortage of used cars in the market.
Teneo is also said to have struck a deal with Constellation Automotive, the owner of Cazoo’s rival, Cinch, involving a handful of sites and dozens of jobs.
Meanwhile, several parties are understood to have expressed an interest in Cazoo’s wholesale operation and other vehicle collection sites.
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One industry source said the pivot to a platform model had seen its inventory rise to more than 15,000 cars, with Cazoo now the online vehicle marketplace where consumers can buy and sell cars under a single brand.
If, as expected, the group does fall into administration, it would underline the rapid implosion of a company which once ranked among Britain’s hottest technology start-ups.
Founded by Alex Chesterman, the founder of Zoopla, it raised hundreds of millions of pounds in funding, and rapidly attracted a ‘unicorn’ – or $1bn – valuation.
Mr Chesterman left the business several months ago in the wake of a balance sheet restructuring which saw hundreds of millions of dollars of debt converted to equity.
One insider said the formal triggering of insolvency proceedings was likely to attract wider attention in Cazoo’s assets, including its brand.
It was unclear on Friday how much Motors.co.uk or other suitors for the marketplace were likely to bid for it.
A spokesperson for Cazoo said: “Our new marketplace model, where consumers can both buy and sell cars, is revenue generating and performing ahead of expectations with interest from almost 100 car dealers including many household names wishing to trade on the Cazoo platform.
“Cazoo has successfully restructured and significantly reduced the cash burn of the group, resulting in a cash position in excess of £95m at 30th April 2024 compared to £113m at 31st December 2023, and the platform now has approximately 17,000 cars which is more than double the volume we previously supported and demonstrates the scalability of our technology and the strength of the team.
“We are making efforts to secure the next phase of our business and are grateful to our employees for their hard work and commitment.”
Motors.co.uk did not respond to enquiries, while a spokesperson for Cazoo declined to comment on talks about asset sales.
The owner of British Airways has reported a sharp rise in profits amid soaring demand for trips and a fall in the cost of fuel.
International Airlines Group (IAG) said its operating profit for the first three months of the year was €68m (£58.5m) – above expectations and up from €9m (£7.7m) during the same period in 2023.
The company, which also owns Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling, said earnings had soared thanks to strong demand, particularly over the Easter holidays.
It said fuel costs had also dropped almost 5% – compared to the same period last year – due to lower prices and “more efficient” aircraft deliveries.
IAG said British Airways (BA) and its other airlines had reported a noticeable uptick in ticket sales for flights between major European cities, especially for leisure trips.
Chief executive Luis Gallego said the group’s airlines had already secured more than 80% of projected bookings for the second quarter and over 40% for the third quarter.
Total revenues also increased to €6.4bn (£5.5bn), up from €5.9bn (£5.1bn) last year, according to first quarter figures published on Friday.
IAG’s fortunes are in contrast to its European rivals Lufthansa and Air France-KLM, which both reported lower-than-expected first quarter results.
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Mr Gallego said: “Our transformation initiatives and increased demand, including over the Easter holidays, have delivered another very good set of results with improvements to both revenue and operating profit.
“Our group benefits from the strength of our core markets – North Atlantic, South Atlantic and intra-Europe – and the performance of our brands. Investment across the group in transformation is delivering encouraging improvements in punctuality and customer experience at our airlines…
“We are well-positioned for the summer. The high demand for travel is a continuing trend.”
Mr Gallego also said the impact of the Israel-Hamas war on the company had been limited.
At the time, the carrier apologised for “any disruption” faced by passengers but said it “always works hard to get our customers to where they need to be on time.”