WHEN it comes to having extreme wealth and power, Michael Platt is quite literally at the top of his game.
The hedge fund tycoon is the UK’s richest man and is a multi- billionaire.
Born on March 18, 1968, in Preston, Michael Platt is a billionaire hedge fund manager.
He is the co-founder and managing director of BlueCrest Capital Management, Europe’s third-largest hedge-fund firm.
Platt first started investing when he was just 14 thanks to a £500 birthday present from his grandmother.
He put the money into the Common Brothers shipping and tripled his investment.
Platt went onto to study civil engineering at the Imperial College London.
He switched courses after a year because he found the course boring, and instead read mathematics and economics at the London School of Economics.
Platt made up to £30K as an undergraduate investing in the newly-privatised utilities but his stock lost half its value in a single day during the crash of October 1987.
After graduating from university, he joined JP Morgan, where he gained a number of promotions before he founded BlueCrest Management.
It is not known if Platt is currently in a relationship but he has been married before.
He wed Helen Sanderson in 1995, but the couple went onto divorce.
During their time together they welcomed two children together, with his son Marcus now following in his father’s footsteps and working for BlueCrest.
The Preston-born billionaire holds the title of the UK’s richest man.
As of 2024, Platt’s net worth stands at an estimated at £14.3 billion.
His fortune surpasses the likes of fracking entrepreneur Sir Jim Ratcliffe and vacuum genius James Dyson, who come in second and third place in Britain’s rich list.
Platt likes to flash the cash, and reportedly also owns a Bombardier Challenger private jet.
He also has homes all over the world including London, Switzerland and the US.
The businessman spends a lot of his vast wealth on art.
Platt displays his impressive collection in the crypt of a deconsecrated church in Marylebone, London.
The collection includes:
Other pieces in the collection include works by taxidermist Polly Morgan, the Turner prize-winner Keith Tyson and Reece Jones.
Platt has made his money thanks to his hedge fund company BlueCrest.
The company is now regarded as one of the biggest private investment firms in the world.
Unlike most hedge funds that cater to external clients, Platt’s company operates as a personal investment vehicle for himself, his senior partners, and employees.
Platt co-founded the company in 2000 alongside his business partner William Reeves.
As of 2024, BlueCrest Capital Management reportedly has 576 employees.
However, there is still an air of mystery surrounding Platt, even amongst his employers.
According to the Daily Mail, the businessman is so low-key that even the receptionist at his hedge fund’s London headquarters remains unaware of his identity.
In 2020, BlueCrest was ordered to pay $170 million (£137 million) by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investors, one of the largest penalties imposed on a hedge fund by U.S. authorities.
The SEC investigation concluded that the company had “repeatedly failed to act” in their best interests by “transferring its highest-performing traders to a fund that benefited its own personnel to the detriment of its fund investors”.
The questionable tactics occurred more than a decade ago when BlueCrest was in the process of converting to a private investment partnership which no longer managed external money.
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority made similar allegations, handing out a £40.8 million fine to BlueCrest in 2021 “for conflict of interest failings”, which the company denies and is challenging legally.
This unconventional strategy has helped propel him to unimaginable wealth.
