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Canada’s wealthiest individuals only seem to be getting richer, according to the latest January 2025 data pulled from Forbes‘ Real-Time Billionaires list.
While big names like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos still round out the top of the list, a few personalities from north of the border are also regulars on this list of the world’s most sizeable fortunes.
The Thomson family helms the vast Thomson-Reuters media empire, which employs over 25,000 people across the world, has a net worth of $68.6 billion which puts them firmly at the top of the rankings of Canada’s wealthiest.
Thomson-Reuters’ Toronto headquarters. fotografiko eugen / Shutterstock.com
That $68.6 billion in USD converts to an astonishing $98.7 billion Canadian dollars, and places the Thomson family as the wealthiest in Canada, and the 22nd richest person or family anywhere in the world by Forbes’ count.
And that fortune has only grown in recent years, with the family amassing an additional $14.25 billion in the first three quarters of 2024, further cementing the Thomson family’s position as Canada’s wealthiest.
Last year, Maclean’s revealed its list of Canada’s Richest People, with the 2024 list, produced in partnership with Canadian Business, offering “a fresh look at the uber-wealthy in this country.”
According to the late 2024 report, “The bulk of Canada’s money is still held by a few at the top. On average, a billionaire will earn a typical Canadian’s yearly salary by January 2. What has changed is where that affluence lives.”
The family holds a controlling stake in Thomson-Reuters, as well as many other prominent brands in Canada.
The Thomson family’s holding company, Woodbridge, owns major publications like The Globe and Mail, as well as a minority interest in the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens, and a stake in BCE Inc., which owns media and telecom giant Bell Canada.
In addition to his family holdings that include shares in the Habs, reclusive patriarch David Thomson, 3rd Baron Thomson of Fleet, is also a co-owner of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets.
The family’s meteoric accumulation of wealth has seen the Thomson fortune grow by $8.6 billion USD ($12.37B CAD) in the last year.
Back in January 2024, the Thomson family empire was worth $60.4 billion USD ($83.9 billion in Canuck Bucks), increasing to $67.8 billion USD by April, and again to $71 billion USD by May, before dipping back down to the current figure.
Thomson family new worth 2015-2024. Forbes.
While the Thomsons are indeed Canada’s wealthiest family, the title of the country’s richest person is still squarely in the hands of crypto king and Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, better known as CZ.
Canada’s richest man’s fortune grows by $20 billion in months despite prison timehttps://t.co/6iXBzLmdnY
— blogTO (@blogTO) November 11, 2024
The 48-year-old Chinese-born Canadian businessman ranks as the 24th-richest person in the world and the single wealthiest Canadian with a net worth of $65.7 billion USD, which translates to $94.5 billion in Canuck Bucks.
Making matters more impressive, the crypto tycoon managed to grow his wealth despite a prison sentence, where he was sentenced to four months in a U.S. prison but ended up serving less than two weeks behind bars.
