Aspers fall off ‘Rich 100’ list

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This article was published 04/12/2008 (6368 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The declining fortunes of Canwest Global Communications have smacked the Asper family in their pocketbooks.

The majority owners of the Winnipeg-based media conglomerate have fallen off Canadian Business magazine’s Rich 100 list, its annual compilation of the wealthiest Canadians.

A year ago, the fortunes of David, Gail and Leonard Asper were valued at $833 million, good enough for 64th position, but down from $1.1 billion and 24th place the year before.

As of the magazine’s cut-off date of Nov. 3, their net worth had fallen further to $341 million, more than $120 million below the "poorest" member of this year’s Rich 100, Montreal’s Molson family, whose beer-soaked empire was valued at $464 million.

Alex Mlynek, Upfront editor at Canadian Business, said the Aspers’ fortunes have fallen even further in the last month as shares in Canwest have dropped from 95 cents to about 65 cents.

The economic slowdown has not affected the Richardson family. Their conglomerate of agriculture, real estate, financial services and oil and gas companies drove their net worth up to $2.34 billion (19th place), up from $2 billion (22nd place) a year ago.

Peter Nygard, the Finnish-born fashion mogul and former Winnipegger now living in the Bahamas, inched up two spots to 78th with a net worth of $676 million, up from $662 million.

Randy Moffat, former CEO and majority shareholder of Moffat Communications, rounds out the Manitobans on the list. He remains in 82nd place with a net worth of $598 million, down from $661 million last year.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca