Billionaire James Dyson to take $390 million dividend as payout rises
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The dividends were committed to Dyson's Singapore-based Weybourne Holdings.
ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
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SINGAPORE - James Dyson’s namesake vacuum-maker is boosting its annual dividends to the billionaire’s family holding company, reversing a recent trend of declining payouts for Britain’s richest person.
Dyson Holdings committed to dividends of £225 million (S$390 million) this year to Singapore-based Weybourne Holdings, according to registry filings released this week. It previously paid a £200 million dividend for 2024, its lowest total in at least seven years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
A representative for Mr Dyson – who has a net worth of about US$16.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index – didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr Dyson, 78, has repeatedly shifted large sums out of his namesake firms in recent years as he expands bets across finance, real estate and agriculture to diversify one of the world’s largest fortunes. That included a record £1.2 billion dividend in 2022, helping to take the total amount transferred in the past decade to more than £4 billion, the data show.
His business empire now includes an insurance unit to help protect his personal and financial affairs. He’s also built up his farming business to become one of the UK’s biggest landowners. Weybourne, the Dyson family holding company, also has financial assets including hedge funds, venture capital and private equity, led by chief investment officer Jane Simpson.
Mr Dyson, a Royal College of Art graduate, founded his technology business in the early 1990s and has expanded its products to fans, hair dryers and noise-cancelling headphones. The firm opened a new global headquarters in Singapore in 2022, though Mr Dyson himself has returned to the UK, where he owns a country estate in south-west England.
Dyson Holdings reported revenue of £6.6 billion in 2024, a 7 per cent drop from 12 months earlier amid slower economic growth in some of its markets. Pre-tax profits almost halved to £561 million.
“2024 was a difficult but necessary year,” chief executive officer Hanno Kirner said in a statement Monday. “We saw sales volumes reach their highest levels but revenue down on the prior year, due to one-off issues.” BLOOMBERG
