On the ball - Sir Terry's Celtic Manor hosts the 2010 Ryder Cup

The annual Sunday Times rich list has seen him succeed venture capitalist Michael Moritz.

He drops to fourth place in the list of 24 individuals from Wales who qualify for the newspaper's list in 2005.

They include singer Sir Tom Jones (ninth) film stars Catherine Zeta Jones (10th) and Sir Anthony Hopkins (16th).

Sir Terry's fortune is estimated at �1.2bn, down from the �1.3bn estimated for 2004.

RICH LIST - WELSH TOP 10 1 (2) Sir Terry Matthews, telecommunications �1,200m 2 (3) Albert Gubay, property and fitness clubs �650m 3 (4) David Sullivan, media and property, �595m 4 (1) Michael Moritz, computers �518m 5 (-) Steve Morgan, construction and leisure �425m 6 (5) Stanley and Peter Thomas, property �275m 7 (10) Henry Engelhardt, motor insurance �240m 8 (6) Lord Heseltine, publishing �202m 9 (7) Sir Tom Jones, music �185m 10 (8) Catherine Zeta Jones, films �175m

Sir Terry made his fortune in telecommunications but has invested in the �600m Celtic Manor resort in his home town of Newport where golf's Ryder Cup will be held in 2010.

The founder of Newbridge Networks is fourth in the list of telecoms millionaires and equal 40th overall.

Mr Moritz, brought up in Cardiff but now living in California, made much of his fortune investing in internet search engines Google and Yahoo!

But the compilers of the list admitted they were a "little over the top" in estimating his fortune last year and it has been revalued by �832m.

Consequently, he is the biggest faller in the list, and is now seen as worth �518m compared to �1.35bn.

Wales richest entertainers slip down the overall list but remain singer Tom Jones and actors Catherine Zeta Jones and Sir Anthony Hopkins.

The list estimates that Sir Tom's skill with money and earning enough from his touring and record sales make him worth �185m, up �10m on 2004.

Zeta Jones' fortune with actor husband Michael Douglas place them 13th in the list of richest couples and sixth in the list of millionaires in film or TV.