NEWCASTLE United owner Mike Ashley has seen his fortune fall by more than £1bn in the space of a year, according to analysis for The Sunday Times Rich List.

The Sports Direct tycoon, who has seen shares in the business fall, is now worth £2.43bn.

However his counterpart at fierce rivals Sunderland, American Ellis Short, has boosted his wealth by £200m to £1.2bn, courtesy of his involvement with London-based private equity firm Kildare Partners.

Others featuring in the 2016 list include philanthropist Jonathan Ruffer, who spent £15million to save the historic Zurbaran paintings which hang at Auckland Castle and is behind the £27million Eleven Arches project.

His wealth is £370million, the analysis says. Duncan Bannatyne, whose chain of health and fitness centres is based in Darlington, is said to be worth £200million, up £13million, while a new entry in the list is the boss of Billingham company Able UK, Peter Stephenson (£200million).

His business decommissions and recycles oil and gas rigs and ships and also provides port and logistics services.

Another entrepreneur inextricably linked to football, Middlesbrough FC chairman Steve Gibson, is worth £195million, up from 2015’s figure of £130million, according to the Sunday Times. His fortune was built on the Teesside based Bulkhaul tanker operation.

The owner of property company Jomast, Stuart Monk, is said to be worth £185million. Mr Monk, who lives in North Yorkshire, was blasted by MPs earlier this year after it was revealed homes belonging to his company in Middlesbrough being used to house asylum seekers had doors that were painted red, singling them out from the rest of the community.

Others with links to North Yorkshire who appear on the Rich List are Robert Miller (£1.58bn), who founded airport shopping chain Duty Free Shoppers and owns the 36,000 acre Gunnerside shooting estate in Swaledale.

Construction magnate Terry Bramall (£425million), who lives in Harrogate, and internet entrepreneur Peter Wilkinson (£385million), who lives in Sleightholmedale, near Helmsley, also make the list.

The Sunday Times Rich List, which first appeared in 1989, describes itself as the “definitive guide to wealth” in Britain and Ireland.

It uses identifiable wealth such as land, property, other assets such as art and racehorses and significant shares in publicly quoted companies in order to make its estimates.

However – and crucially – it does not include actual cash in the bank, leading some to question whether it is truly definitive.

NORTH-EAST’S RICHEST (from Sunday Times Rich List 2016)

1) Mike Ashley

2) Ellis Short

3) Mark Fenwick and family

4) Alastair and Michael Powell

5) Jonathan Ruffer

6) The Duke of Northumberland

7) Dame Margaret and Helen Barbour and family

8) Duncan Bannatyne; Peter Stephenson and family (joint 8th)

10) Steve Gibson.