The compiler, the National Business Review, has dropped Allan Hubbard and Terry Serepisos from its 24th annual list issued today.
NBR said although both were still worth a considerable amount, Mr Hubbard, South Canterbury Finance life president, was presently in statutory management and property developer and Phoenix soccer club owner Mr Serepisos had had well-publicised cash-flow issues.
This made it difficult to accurately assess their net worth.
NBR news editor Ellen Read said it arrived at the best possible Rich List from readily and publicly available information and, given the uncertainty around both those men, it was thought prudent to put them on hold in order to retain the integrity of the list.
The 2010 list welcomes two newcomers, technology businessman Rod Drury, whose family trust is the biggest shareholder in accounting software company Xero, and property developer John Sax, whose investment through his Southpark Corporation has resulted in a spectacular portfolio.
There are six billionaires on this year's list. These are packaging king Graeme Hart with a value of $5.5 billion who tops the list, the Todd family with a value of $2.7 billion, Irish farmer and property investor Eamon Cleary with a value of $2 billion, New Zealand's richest woman Lynette Erceg with a value of $1.5 billion, and investor brothers Christopher and Richard Chandler, each valued at $1.4 billion.
Read pointed to the changing nature of wealth generation, evidenced by the inclusion of rich listers who had earned their place through intellectual property, ideas and technology.
She said that would be particularly evident in the "Rich List Radar" to be published later this year, but notable on the list released today were filmmaker Sir Peter Jackson ($500m), entrepreneur Sam Morgan ($290m), business academic and one of the world's top 50 business intellectuals, Dr David Teece ($180m), dot-com pioneer Steve Outtrim ($110m), film industry operators Nigel and Susan Standford ($95m), and publisher Wendy Pye ($70m).
While the property market had consolidated over the past year, two years of record harvests and oversupply of grapes had hurt New Zealand's wine industry and this was reflected in the valuations.
Winemakers Jim and Rosemari Delegat, the Giesen family, George Fistonich, Brent Marris and Peter Yealands remain secure on the list, thanks to the maturity of their businesses, scope of their operations abroad and ability to find opportunities in global markets that one would least expect.
This year there are 150 NBR rich listers with 100 men, three women, 39 families and eight pairs. The overall wealth on the list has decreased slightly this year, down to just over $38 billion compared with the $39 billion net total recorded in 2009.
The threshold for inclusion on the list remained at $50m this year.
The top 10:
1 Graeme Hart $5.5 billion
2 Todd Family $2.7 billion
3 Eamon Cleary $2 billion
4 Lynette Erceg $1.5 billion
5= Christopher Chandler $1.4 billion
5= Richard Chandler $1.4 billion
6 Goodman Family $850 million
7= Stephen Jennings $800 million
7= Sir Douglas Myers $800 million
8= Sir Michael Fay $750 million
8= David Richwhite $750 million
9= Michael Friedlander $700 million
9= Spencer family $700 million
10 Peter Cooper $650 million
