Lord Sainsbury & Family

Lord Sainsbury took control of his shares in the family supermarket firm in February 2007. For eight years, while he was science minister in Tony Blair's government, they were in a blind trust, run by trustees and out of his control. Sainsbury has regained control of his 7.73% stake just as the group is at the centre of takeover speculation that have driven the shares to all-time highs, valuing J Sainsbury at over £9.9bn.
Sainsbury has backed the company's management, which has turned J Sainsbury round, with sales and profits moving up sharply over the crucial Christmas period.

Ennobled by Tony Blair, Sainsbury has given £11.5m to Labour over seven years. After his period in government, Sainsbury is keen to become involved in his charity work and said in 2005, that he wanted to be the first Briton to give £1 bn to charity in his lifetime. The main beneficiaries of Lord Sainsbury's largesse will be neuroscience research, plant biology and African development. He has already put £400m into his Gatsby Charitable Foundation.

Sainsbury himself heads the family and spent thirty-five years in the business, founded by his great-grandparents in 1869. The wider Sainsbury family's stake (excluding charitable stakes) is now around 19% of the company, worth around £1.9bn. Other assets, share sales and huge dividends totalling £450m from 1999-2005 take the family to £2.5bn after tax and charitable donations.