If the cricket ball had bounced in a different way, perhaps Greg Loveridge would have been In the Hall of Fame rather than the Rich List. But a list is a list, and the property magnate doesn’t look back.
On his 21st birthday, Loveridge walked on to the Hamilton cricket pitch to play his international test debut against Zimbabwe for the 1996 Black Caps. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long until a fastball smashed into his right glove, breaking a knuckle and his cricket career all at once.
At Massey University he studied for a master's degree in history and spent eight months playing for the Rondebosch Club in Cape Town.
It wasn’t long before he decided to earn an honours degree and play cricket at Cambridge University, which he calls “the best two years of his life.” Later, he worked as a political speechwriter, a parliamentary press secretary to then sport minister Trevor Mallard and as a teacher at an international school in Darjeeling, India.
Eventually, Sir Robert Jones’ path crossed with Mr Loveridge and the two got on so well, fellow Rich Lister Sir Robert offered him a job as general manager of the $1.5 billion Robt. Jones Holdings.
"I took a couple of days and then said, ‘yeah, what can the harm be in running such a large company on a day-to-day basis'? I'm now a director and Bob and I get on fantastically," he says.
Mr Loveridge owns a house in Auckland’s Herne Bay’s Bella Vista Rd, which he bought from Kiwi Hollywood star Karl Urban in 2014 for $6.65 million. The house is estimated today at approximately $15 million after extensions were approved, another healthy return for the property tycoon. He also has a house on Waiheke Island’s Cowes Bay valued at $2.7 million.