Ten Canadian billionaires, and how they made their fortunes

Canadian billionaires are a diverse bunch. Some inherit, some build wealth through their own entrepreneurship, others invest smartly.

There’s no secret sauce for advising the ultra-rich, says Greg Moore, partner and portfolio manager with Richter family office in Toronto. They might have made their fortunes in Canadian natural resources, or retail, or even cryptocurrency.

“Often you’re dealing with a wealth creator who has been very successful. They’re very bright. They’re very driven. They’ve got lots of insights,” he says. “Advising into that sort of an ecosystem can be challenging because part of your role as an advisor is to help the family effectively manage risk.”

For instance, a family office for a billionaire entrepreneur might struggle with persuading that client of the merits of diversification. Entrepreneurs are often tempted to put their money into what they know and understand, which isn’t the ideal way to approach risk management, says Moore.

“Being an advisor in that ecosystem is tough. You might get bruised and beaten up because your job is to question, to bring some objectivity, into business decisions being made. That may pit you against the wealth creator.”

Moore says most, if not all, of the wealthy who appear on top 10 rich lists would prefer not to be there, not because they aren’t proud of their achievements but because being on the list makes them a target for criticism. “I think it’s unfortunate. Most of the large families we work with are very charitable. They spend a lot of time trying to figure out ways to give back.”

Canadians “often criticize wealth creators for being wealthy and not worthy of our sympathy or admiration. I think that’s a weird Canadian trait,” says Moore.

Curious readers can find many lists of Canada’s wealthiest people. No two are alike. Forbes and Bloomberg websites, for instance, track billionaire fortunes in real time, resulting in daily fluctuations. The information used to compile the rankings may include publicly available data, including holdings in public corporations and reported transactions. It doesn’t always include private investments.

You will also find anomalies. Bloomberg and Forbes don’t include the Weston family in their real-time rankings. And other published estimates of that sprawling dynasty’s wealth vary widely.

Here is a list of 10 very, very rich Canadian families and individuals. It’s not definitive, but it gives a glimpse into how billionaires accumulate their wealth.

Thomson family

In one point recently, the Forbes real-time billionaire index pegged the Thomson family fortune at US$65 billion. The late Roy Thomson made his money in newspapers in Canada and Britain. His grandchildren, including David, Peter and Taylor Thomson, Sherry Brydson, Linda Campbell, Gaye Farncombe and Susan Grange, are the dominant generation now sharing the wealth.

David Thomson, 66, inherited Roy’s peerage to become the 3rd Baron Thomson of Fleet. The key family holding is media conglomerate Thomson Reuters Corp. and the family’s investment company is Woodbridge.

Changpeng Zhao

Cryptocurrency exchange mogul Zhao, 47, hits the Forbes’ list at US$15 billion. He co-founded the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, in 2017. Zhao immigrated to Vancouver from China when he was 12 years old and studied computer science at McGill University.

Zhao moved to Shanghai to launch his business career and now is based in Dubai. He is currently navigating legal issues in the U.S., where he pleaded guilty to “failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program at (Binance).”

David Cheriton

Often described as Professor Billionaire, Cheriton has US$12.5 billion, according to the Forbes list. The Stanford professor emeritus’s fortune stems from his early investment in Google. He has also founded three other high-tech firms.

Born in Vancouver, Cheriton, 72, went to public school in Edmonton and attended the University of Alberta, the University of British Columbia and Waterloo. He was a professor briefly at UBC before joining Stanford.

Irving family

Although they turn up on rich lists as separate individuals, the two surviving sons of K.C. Irving, James and Arthur, between them have close to US$12 billion, according to Forbes. The brothers from New Brunswick, both in their mid-90s, derive their wealth from a sprawling web of businesses throughout North America.

Their grandfather, James Dergavel Irving, started it all with a gas station. James now owns J.D. Irving Ltd., a conglomerate that includes shipbuilding, transportation, forestry and frozen food concerns. Arthur owns Irving Oil.

Weston family

The Westons don’t appear on the Forbes or Bloomberg daily lists. In March of 2023, Maclean’s magazine reported the value of family shares in George Weston Ltd. had reached $10.8 billion.

The Weston fortune began with a bakery in Toronto in 1884. Four generations later the family has grocery and retail concerns in Canada and Britain. In Canada, their holdings include the Loblaws and Shoppers Drug Mart chains.

Galen Weston, 51, the face of the family in Canada, stepped down last year as president of Loblaw Co. but remained the firm’s chairman. He is also CEO of Loblaw’s parent company, George Weston Ltd.

Jim Pattison

Pattison, another powerful nonagenarian, was recently listed by Forbes as worth US$9.7 billion. He opened his first car dealership in 1961 in Vancouver. Now the Jim Pattison Group is a diversified behemoth, including interests in car and truck dealerships, grocery chains, billboards, forestry, broadcasting and the Guinness World Records and Ripley brands.

Anthony von Mandl

B.C. beverage magnate von Mandl’s fortune was estimated at US$9.4 billion by Forbes in early March. Von Mandl, 73, was born in Vancouver, moved to Europe in his childhood and then returned to go to the University of British Columbia.

He started his beverage empire as a wine importer in his 20s. Now his Mark Anthony brand is known worldwide. In addition to owning breweries, distilleries and Okanagan wineries including Mission Hill and CedarCreek, von Mandl created ready-to-drink White Claw Hard Seltzer and Mike’s Hard Lemonade.

Alain Bouchard

Forbes lists convenience store retailer Bouchard’s wealth at US$8 billion. The 74-year-old Quebecer was born in Chicoutimi, Que., worked in his youth for franchise grocery stores and co-founded Alimentation Couche-Tard in 1980, beginning with one store.

Today the company owns more than 14,000 convenience stores worldwide.

Tobias Lutke

E-commerce mogul Tobi Lutke was worth US$6.9 billion in early March. Born in Germany, 43-year-old Lutke moved to Canada in 2002. The computer programmer co-founded an online snowboard store in Ottawa called Snowdevil in 2004.

His next venture in 2006 was Shopify, which grew to be an e-commerce tech giant worth about US$98 billion.

Chip Wilson

The Lululemon founder clocks in with US$6.4 billion on the Forbes real-time list. Wilson, 68, was born in California and moved with his family to Canada as a child. He now lives in B.C.

Wilson made his fortune in the “athleisure” market, particularly in Lululemon Athletica, which he founded in 1998. He also owns Low Tide Properties in Vancouver and has a holding company called Hold It All with his wife Summer Wilson.

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