How Does Rishi Sunak Make Money? Is He Wealthy Because Of His Wife?

Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murthy — Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murty

Britain has been in news for the past two months for different reasons. One among them is the change in the country’s Prime Ministers. Rishi Sunak has become the British Prime Minister after being asked to form a government by King Charles III. He is the third Conservative prime minister to be appointed this year.

As the new leader, Sunak will have to deal with so many tasks. To do well in his position, he’ll have to tackle a mounting economic crisis, a warring political party, and a deeply divided country. The 42-year-old British-Asian is one of the richest men in the English Parliament. His huge amount of wealth has come into discussion umpty number of times. Does the leader owe a share of his fortune to his wife, Akshata Murthy?

Rishi Sunak: The Rich Politician

Rishi Sunak, his wife Akshata Murthy, and their children

The new British Prime Minister along with his wife Akshata Murthy has a combined net worth of $823.4 million, according to The Sunday Times Rich List 2022. The couple owns four luxury homes worth $18.3 million spread across the U.K. and California. Obviously, Rishi Sunak is not wealthy as his wife. He had worked in the finance sector for more than a decade before entering politics in 2015. He was elected to parliament in the constituency of Richmond in Yorkshire.

Sunak had studied politics, philosophy, and economics at Oxford University before he worked at Goldman Sachs for three years. In 2006, he earned an MBA from Stanford and then became a partner at London-based hedge fund The Children’s Investment Fund. The politician left TCIF in 2009 and joined Theleme Partners, founded by Patrick Degorce. There he owned less than 5% of the firm, which was 2.2 billion in assets as of 2013. The same year, Rishi Saunak launched Catamaran Ventures along with his wife.

How Rich Is Akshata Murthy?

Outside real estate, it is Akshata Murthy who owns much of the assets. She is the daughter of an Indian tech billionaire, N.R. Narayana Murthy. He is the co-founder of the Indian tech giant Infosys. Other than her stakes in Infosys, she owns Catamaran Ventures UK, the British Branch of her father’s venture capital and private equity firm. Sunak had 50% ownership of the company till 2015 but transferred his shares to his wife, before entering the Parliament.

Murthy’s firm also holds stakes in luxury furniture marketplace The New Craftsmen and online florist Bloom & Wild. She has made investments in many companies which have been successful. But at the same time, there are many ventures that have failed over the years. Akshata drew scrutiny for her tax status earlier this year when her husband served as Chancellor of the Exchequer.