LONDON – Sir James Dyson’s technology firm shifted another 10-figure dividend to his family holding company in 2022 as the vacuum magnate accelerates building up his fortune outside his largest asset.
Dyson Holdings paid £1.2 billion (S$2 billion) to Weybourne Holdings in 2022, according to registry filings, the largest annual cash transfer for the British billionaire’s investment group.
It previously disclosed a dividend of at least £500 million in the period for the Singapore-based holding company.
A representative for Dyson declined to comment.
Mr Dyson, 76, is shifting ever-larger sums out of his namesake firm as he expands bets across finance, real estate and agriculture to diversify one of the world’s largest fortunes.
That includes another 10-figure dividend in 2021, helping to take the total amount transferred from his namesake firm over the past five years to about £4.3 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Mr Dyson’s business empire now includes an insurance unit built up within the past few years to help protect his personal and financial affairs, while Weybourne Holdings surfaced in 2022 as an investor in a Berlin-based fund from early stage investment firm Cherry Ventures, filings show.
His namesake farming unit received extra funds in 2022 for investments, further enhancing the billionaire’s status as one of Britain’s biggest land owners.
Mr Dyson also owns a French vineyard and country estate where a gallery is being built to showcase a private art collection featuring works by Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and David Hockney.
The Royal College of Art graduate is Britain’s second-richest person with a net worth of about US$15.8 billion (S$21.6 billion), with most of his fortune still derived from his technology firm, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Mr Dyson founded his technology business in the early 1990s and has expanded its products to fans, hair dryers and noise-cancelling headphones.
The firm said in 2019 that it would shift its base from Britain to Singapore and opened a new global headquarters in the city-state in 2022 with plans to invest more than US$1 billion to expand research and engineering capabilities.
The company also plans to bolster its presence in the Philippines, where it already has a factory producing electrical motors.
Mr Dyson has taken funds out of his firm through dividends and transfers of share capital to the Singapore holding company, which does not publish consolidated results.
His namesake firm’s borrowing has more than doubled since 2019 to £762 million at the end of 2022, filings show.
Mr Dyson’s family office – also named Weybourne – helps to oversee his various business interests.
It is among the world’s largest with more than 70 employees globally and is led by former British army officer James Bucknall, 64. Former fund manager Bjorn Thelander, 58, is chief investment officer.
Dyson Holdings reported revenue of £6.5 billion in 2022, an 8.5 per cent increase from 12 months earlier, despite facing shortages in its supply chain and closing its Russia business due to the invasion of Ukraine.
Total income remained flat at about £1 billion. BLOOMBERG
