Rich List 2011: Barry's best advice | Rotorua News | Local News in Rotorua

Listening to what customers want has helped keep Rotorua's Barry Colman on New Zealand's rich list.

In its 25th year of publishing a list of New Zealand's wealthiest people, The National Business Review released its list for 2011 yesterday.

Mr Colman, a former Rotorua Boys' High School student, began his career in the media as a cadet reporter at The Daily Post in 1964 and now owns and operates the magazine that produces the rich list.

Mr Colman is ranked 45th on the list with an estimated worth of $105 million.

"The best piece of advice I received was to realise you have got two ears and one mouth and to use them in that proportion," he said.

"Our new media investments have seen very good growth, but on the print side, not so much."

The National Business Review was the first media company in New Zealand to charge a subscription for online content, a move Mr Colman said was a risk at the time but had proven successful. "What hasn't changed is our clients' need for high-quality reporting and people will pay for that."

He said life in the business world must go on and business people would continue to do well by listening to what their customers wanted.

Rotorua's La Grouw family, the owners of building company Lockwood, fell off the list in 2009 and have not returned since.

There were six billionaires on the list this year.

Topping the list was Carter Holt Harvey owner Graeme Hart, with an estimated worth of $6.5 billion. In second was investor Richard Chandler at $4 billion followed by the Todd family at $2.7 billion, investor/farmer Eamon Cleary at $2 billion, and Lynne Erceg and Christopher Chandler, each worth $1.5 billion.