The richest people in Europe are a very diverse social group. Some of them inherited their fortune from centuries-old dynasties, while others are savvy entrepreneurs who rose from the very bottom. There are rich people from Eastern Europe who made their fortunes recently after the collapse of the Soviet Union, there are industrialists from Scandinavia with money earned from traditional industries, and there are Western European wealthy people with aristocratic family ties.
Based on the Forbes list of the richest people, Business Insider found out who the richest person in each European country is and ranked them in order of increasing capital. Some countries did not have anyone on the Forbes list, so not all European countries are represented on the list.
(Total 19 photos)
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Romania: Ion Ciriac, $1 billion
The richest man in Romania is nicknamed "The Bulldozer of Brasov." Ciriac is a former professional tennis and hockey player who made his fortune after the fall of communism in Romania in 1989 through a series of successful investments in banking, retail and insurance.
Simone Comi/MM Press/REX/Shutterstock
Monaco: Tatiana Santo Domingo (Casiraghi), $2.3 billion
The heiress to the beer empire, Tatiana Santo Domingo, is the richest citizen of Monaco and a member of the princely Casiraghi family. She inherited most of her capital from her late grandfather, who sold the Colombian brewing company Bavaria to SABMiller in 2005 for several billion dollars. Tatiana is married to Prince Andrea Casiraghi of Hanover, fourth in line to the throne of Monaco.
Finland: Antti Herlin, $3.6 billion
The richest man in Finland made his money in an unusual way - in the escalator and elevator business. He is the great-grandson of Harald Herlin, who bought the engineering company KONE in the 1920s.
Poland: Sebastian and Dominika Kulczyk, $3.6 billion
The brother and sister are the heirs of their father, Jan Kulczyk, who died in 2015. They have managed their father's portfolio of assets and investments since 2014.
Portugal: Americo Amorim, $4.6 billion
Amorim made his billions through the company Corticeira Amorim, which is the world's largest cork manufacturer and was founded by his grandfather. He also has businesses in Angola, a former Portuguese colony, and other European countries.
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Belgium: Albert Frere, $4.6 billion
Frere is an investor who made his fortune in steel in the 1970s and has since invested in a number of other sectors of the economy. He holds the title of Baron, granted to him by the King of Belgium.
Norway: Odd Reitan, $8.5 billion
Reitan made his capital in retail and department stores, founding REMA 1000, the country's largest supermarket chain. In 2012, he wrote a book in which he imagined what would happen if the Norwegian king appointed him ruler of Norway.
IAN MCILGORM/REX/Shutterstock
Switzerland: Ernesto Bertarelli, $8.5 billion
Bertarelli became rich by selling the pharmaceutical company Serono, founded by his grandfather. Now his capital and investments are mainly managed by Waypoint Capital.
REX/Shutterstock
Cyprus: Jon Fredriksen, $9.9 billion
Fredriksen would have been Norway's richest man had he remained a citizen, but he is now a citizen of Cyprus and one of the most powerful oil tycoons. He made large sums of money transporting oil during the Iran-Iraq War.
Netherlands: Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken, $11.7 billion
The richest man in the Netherlands is the heiress of the Heineken brewing company. Her grandfather Gerard Adrian Heineken founded the company at the end of the 19th century. Charlene is now on the board of directors of Heineken.
Francis Dean/REX/Shutterstock
Denmark: Kield Kirk Christiansen, $12.7 billion
Christiansen owes his capital to Lego. He is the grandson of Ole Kirk Christiansen, who founded the toy company and headed it for a quarter of a century until 2004.
Richard Young/REX/Shutterstock
UK: Shri and Gopi Hinduja, $14.6 billion
The UK-based pair of brothers (pictured: Gopi and his wife) are half of the so-called “fantastic four” - relatives in their 70s who run the Hinduja Group, a conglomerate headquartered in London. The company owns Indian automaker Ashok Leyland.
Joan Valls/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock
Austria: Dietrich Mateschitz, $15.8 billion
The founder of Red Bull is the richest man in Austria, still owning about half of its shares. If you're having trouble studying, don't worry: Mateschitz took 10 years to graduate from university.
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Sweden: Stefan Persson, $20 billion
Persson is the largest shareholder of the European fashion chain H&M. The company was founded by his father Erling Persson, and his son Karl-Johan Persson is now CEO.
Germany: Georg Scheffler, $20.1 billion
Georg Schaeffler owns 80% of the shares of the industrial company Schaeffler Group, the remaining 20% belongs to his mother. The company produces rolling bearings for the automotive, aerospace and industrial industries.
Mauro Ujetto/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock
Italy: Maria Franca Fissolo (left) and Giovanni Ferrero, $24.9 billion
The wife and son of the late Michele Ferrero owe their wealth to the company Ferrero SpA, which produces confectionery products. The company is named after their last name, and Giovanni runs it.
France: Liliane Bettencourt, $38.5 billion
Bettencourt is the top person at L'Oreal and is also the richest woman in Europe. She and her children own 33% of the cosmetics giant. Bettencourt suffers from dementia, so her children now run the affairs.
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Spain: Amancio Ortega, $71.1 billion
Ortega is a Spanish businessman who founded the clothing manufacturer Inditex. The group of companies is known for the clothing chains Zara, Massimo Dutti, Stradivarius, Oysho and others. Ortega is the second richest man in the world.
This year, 16 billionaires came from Warsaw Pact countries. Even more than in 2005, when five people in the ranking of the richest people in Eastern Europe came from these countries. They all made their own money, given the chance after a wave of privatization in the 1990s. When the economy is growing at 6%, their interests in a variety of business areas decline, writes Forbes.com.
Their total wealth is estimated at $51.5 billion.
Ukraine leads the list of billionaires in Eastern Europe. She delegated seven people. The Ukrainian economy, valued at $320 billion and growing at 7% a year, is boosted by steel prices, the country's top export. The richest man in Ukraine is Rinat Akhmetov, his fortune is estimated at $7.3 billion. Most of his assets are in Metinvest, the largest Ukrainian steel company.
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Akhmetov, together with another Ukrainian billionaire, acquired the largest part of the assets during privatization. Sometimes he received resistance. In 2005, he lost Ukraine's largest steel company, Krivorozhstal, when opposition politicians protested the $800 million price he paid for it. After reprivatization, the company was sold to billionaire Lakshmi Mittal for $4.8 billion.
Akhmetov and his partner in the deal, billionaire Viktor Pinchuk, whose fortune is estimated at $5 billion, are trying to list their companies on the London Stock Exchange. They followed the example of the youngest Ukrainian billionaire, Konstantin Zhevago, whose fortune is estimated at $3.4 billion, and who took his company Ferrexpo to an IPO in London in 2007. The value of the Zhevago company increased by 150% in 12 months.
Polish billionaires do not need to enter foreign exchanges. Five of the six Polish billionaires have already listed their companies on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE). The stock exchange index (WIG) has grown by 10.4%, and annual returns over the past four years have increased by 25% annually.
Leszek Czarnecki, the richest Pole, has a fortune of $2.6 billion and is involved in banking, insurance and real estate. He owns a conglomerate of companies, three of which are listed on the WSE: Getin Holding SA, Noble Bank and LC Corp. He is also involved in operations outside Poland in another listed company, Getin International.
Polish Warren Buffett investor Michal Solowow, whose assets are valued at $1.9 billion, owns companies ranging from ceramics maker Cersanit, developer Echo Investment, flooring maker Barlinek and chemical company Synthos.
Smaller economies Romania and the Czech Republic grew at 6% and 6.5% respectively last year. Romania benefited from joining the EU in 2007, receiving investment from European funds.
This year, Romania added billionaire Dinu Patriciu to the Forbes list with assets of $2.5 billion, surpassing last year's only local billionaire, Ion Tiriac. Patriciu is increasing his holdings in oil producer Rompetrol after the majority of it was sold to Kazakh investor KazMunaiGas last year for $3 billion.
- PHOTO:Billionaires of Eastern Europe
The Czech Republic's only billionaire, Petr Kellner, remains the region's richest man with assets of $9.3 billion. Kellner has topped the list of the region's richest people for three years now. Its long-standing investments in insurance and banking businesses are growing along with the development of the use of bank cards and mortgages. Last year, its Ceska pojistovna, the largest insurance operator in the Czech Republic, announced a joint venture with Italy's Generali, creating Generali PPF Holding. For now, Kellner is focused on expansion in Eastern Europe. The next stage is China.
Inherited from centuries-old dynasties, while others are crafty entrepreneurs who rose from the very bottom. There are rich people from Eastern Europe who made their fortunes recently after the collapse of the Soviet Union, there are industrialists from Scandinavia with money earned from traditional industries, and there are Western European wealthy people with aristocratic family ties.
Based on the Forbes list of the richest people, Business Insider found out who the richest person in each European country is and ranked them in order of increasing capital. Some countries did not have anyone on the Forbes list, so not all European countries are represented on the list.
Juergen Hasenkopf/REX/Shutterstock
Romania: Ion Ciriac, $1 billion
The richest man in Romania is nicknamed "The Bulldozer of Brasov." Ciriac is a former professional tennis and hockey player who made his fortune after the fall of communism in Romania in 1989 through a series of successful investments in banking, retail and insurance.
Simone Comi/MM Press/REX/Shutterstock
Monaco: Tatiana Santo Domingo (Casiraghi), $2.3 billion
The heiress to the beer empire, Tatiana Santo Domingo, is the richest citizen of Monaco and a member of the princely Casiraghi family. She inherited most of her capital from her late grandfather, who sold the Colombian brewing company Bavaria to SABMiller in 2005 for several billion dollars. Tatiana is married to Prince Andrea Casiraghi of Hanover, fourth in line to the throne of Monaco.
Finland: Antti Herlin, $3.6 billion
The richest man in Finland made his money in an unusual way - in the escalator and elevator business. He is the great-grandson of Harald Herlin, who bought the engineering company KONE in the 1920s.
Poland: Sebastian and Dominika Kulczyk, $3.6 billion
The brother and sister are the heirs of their father, Jan Kulczyk, who died in 2015. They have managed their father's portfolio of assets and investments since 2014.
Portugal: Americo Amorim, $4.6 billion
Amorim made his billions through the company Corticeira Amorim, which is the world's largest cork manufacturer and was founded by his grandfather. He also has businesses in Angola, a former Portuguese colony, and other European countries.
Isopix/REX/Shutterstock
Belgium: Albert Frere, $4.6 billion
Frere is an investor who made his fortune in steel in the 1970s and has since invested in a number of other sectors of the economy. He holds the title of Baron, granted to him by the King of Belgium.
Norway: Odd Reitan, $8.5 billion
Reitan made his capital in retail and department stores, founding REMA 1000, the country's largest supermarket chain. In 2012, he wrote a book in which he imagined what would happen if the Norwegian king appointed him ruler of Norway.
IAN MCILGORM/REX/Shutterstock
Switzerland: Ernesto Bertarelli, $8.5 billion
Bertarelli became rich by selling the pharmaceutical company Serono, founded by his grandfather. Now his capital and investments are mainly managed by Waypoint Capital.
REX/Shutterstock
Cyprus: Jon Fredriksen, $9.9 billion
Fredriksen would have been Norway's richest man had he remained a citizen, but he is now a citizen of Cyprus and one of the most powerful oil tycoons. He made large sums of money transporting oil during the Iran-Iraq War.
Netherlands: Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken, $11.7 billion
The richest man in the Netherlands is the heiress of the Heineken brewing company. Her grandfather Gerard Adrian Heineken founded the company at the end of the 19th century. Charlene is now on the board of directors of Heineken.
Francis Dean/REX/Shutterstock
Denmark: Kield Kirk Christiansen, $12.7 billion
Christiansen owes his capital to Lego. He is the grandson of Ole Kirk Christiansen, who founded the toy company and headed it for a quarter of a century until 2004.
Richard Young/REX/Shutterstock
UK: Shri and Gopi Hinduja, $14.6 billion
The UK-based pair of brothers (pictured: Gopi and his wife) are half of the so-called “fantastic four” - relatives in their 70s who run the Hinduja Group, a conglomerate headquartered in London. The company owns Indian automaker Ashok Leyland.
Joan Valls/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock
Austria: Dietrich Mateschitz, $15.8 billion
The founder of Red Bull is the richest man in Austria, still owning about half of its shares. If you're having trouble studying, don't worry: Mateschitz took 10 years to graduate from university.
IBL/REX/Shutterstock
Sweden: Stefan Persson, $20 billion
Persson is the largest shareholder of the European fashion chain H&M. The company was founded by his father Erling Persson, and his son Karl-Johan Persson is now CEO.
Germany: Georg Scheffler, $20.1 billion
Georg Schaeffler owns 80% of the shares of the industrial company Schaeffler Group, the remaining 20% belongs to his mother. The company produces rolling bearings for the automotive, aerospace and industrial industries.
Mauro Ujetto/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock
Italy: Maria Franca Fissolo (left) and Giovanni Ferrero, $24.9 billion
The wife and son of the late Michele Ferrero owe their wealth to the company Ferrero SpA, which produces confectionery products. The company is named after their last name, and Giovanni runs it.
France: Liliane Bettencourt, $38.5 billion
Bettencourt is the main person at L'Oreal, as well as the richest woman in Europe. She and her children own 33% of the shares of the cosmetics giant. Bettencourt suffers from dementia, and therefore her children are now in charge of the business.
Alan Davidson/Silverhub/REX/Shutterstock
Spain: Amancio Ortega, $71.1 billion
Ortega is a Spanish businessman who founded the clothing manufacturer Inditex. The group of companies is known for the clothing chains Zara, Massimo Dutti, Stradivarius, Oysho and others. Ortega is the second richest person in the world.
Forbes magazine puts the rich "in their places"
The global financial crisis has noticeably “shortened” the list of the richest people on the planet, published annually by the American magazine Forbes. Compared to the list of 2007, which included more than 1,100 names, the list of rich people last year was reduced by almost a third - to 793 names. In dollar terms, the total losses of the participants in the famous rating amounted to almost 2 trillion greenbacks.
Bill Gates is back on top
According to the publication's rating, published on March 11, the title of the richest person in the world based on the results of 2008 again belongs to the founder and owner of Microsoft, Bill Gates. The long-time leader of the rating, Gates, whose fortune is estimated at $40 billion, lost the first position last year to the owner of the American holding company Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett.
However, as time has shown, not for long. In the current Forbes list, Buffett is again in second place, because he owns “only” $37 billion. The bronze medal for accumulated wealth belongs to Mexican media tycoon Carlos Slim. His personal fortune is estimated at 35 billion.
In addition, the owners of the German budget supermarket chain Aldi, brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht, entered the Forbes top ten, taking 6th and 9th places, respectively. Despite the fact that last year the crisis eased Karl's accounts by almost $5.5 billion, the remaining $21.5 billion was enough to break into the top 10. Forbes estimated Theo's capital at 18.8 billion.
Every third person inherited a fortune
The list of German billionaires decreased by five people over the year to 54 names. The richest woman in Germany is 46-year-old Susanne Klatten, who owns a large stake in the BMW automobile concern. Her fortune is estimated at approximately $10 billion. The youngest rich man is 25-year-old German Albert Prince von Thurn und Taxis. Owning $1.6 billion, he took 318th place in the ranking. Like every third person on the list of rich people, the German aristocrat inherited a fortune.
The fortunes of billionaires from Russia and India declined significantly during the crisis. The number of Russians in the Forbes magazine ranking decreased by two-thirds to 32 people compared to last year, and the list of Indians was reduced by half.
Money is one of the most important desires of any person; it is for the sake of it that everyone works and lives. In addition, financial well-being is the main indicator of a person’s wealth and success. Perhaps exactly Europe today is the center of all capital, because it is the leader in the number of dollar billionaires. There are 755 of them in Europe.
It is noteworthy that about 35 percent of billionaires do not have a college degree. The average billionaire's net worth is 3.1 billion and their age is 63 years old.
5th place - Michelle Ferrero - $26.5 billion
Age: 87. Place of birth: Dogliani (Italy). Married, has two children.
Michelle Ferrero is the owner of the European chocolate company Ferrero. This company is the creator of Nutella, Kinder, Tic-Tacs, and, of course, Ferrero Rocher. Ferrero, unlike most of Italy's billionaires, simply loves making chocolate and prefers to remain in the shadows.
Michel Ferrero is 87 years old and is the patriarch of the Ferrero Group chocolate dynasty. He inherited the company in 1950 from his father Pietro and turned it into one of the largest confectionery concerns in the world, which owns brands such as Tic Tac, Nutella, Ferrero Rocher.
Today the concern owns more than 15 factories and 70 subsidiaries around the world, with a staff of about 22,000 people.
By the way, not only in Europe there are billionaires. For example, the richest one owns more than two billion dollars, of course he cannot compare with the people in this top, but still.
4th place - Bernard Arnault - $33.5 billion
Age: 64. Country: France. Sources: LVMH
Bernard Arnault is the owner of the luxury empire Louis Vuitton - Moet Hennessy, which includes 60 famous brands (Sephora, Fendi, Bulgari, Dom Perignon, and so on). Over the course of a year, he managed to increase his fortune by $4.5 billion, but this did not stop him from falling in the rankings.
Bernard Arnault has headed LVMH since 1989 and is considered one of the most influential people in the world of fashion and taste, a role he takes very seriously.
The now publicly traded LVMH business empire has remained relatively a family enterprise. Bernard, being the heir to the fortune made by his father in construction, started his own business in 1984, then he bought the rights to manage fashion brands for $15 million, including the famous Christian Dior.
Today, the revenue of his business is approaching $40 billion, and Bernard is gradually transferring operational management to his children - his son Antoine and daughter Delphine. Antoine took charge of Loro Piana and the shoe brand Berluti in December. Delphine is the executive vice president of the Louis Vuitton fashion house.
The pillars of Bernard Arnault's fortune remain his stake in the Carrefour supermarket chain and the now independent Christian Dior.
3rd place - Stefan Persson - $34.5 billion
Age: 66. Country: Sweden. Sources: H&M
Stefan Persson is chairman of the board of directors of Swedish retailer Hennes & Mauritz. This company is strengthening its position year after year thanks to the growth of quotes in the fast fashion segment (accessories and budget clothing created “based on the patterns” of haute couture collections). H&M shares rose 25% in 2013.
Last year, H&M became the first major retailer to provide workers at factories in Bangladesh with safety guarantees and raise their wages to a living wage. This happened after a roof collapsed at a factory in Bangladesh. The emergency building is no longer in use.
Since 2009, Stefan Persson entrusted the operational management of the business to Karl-Johan, his 38-year-old son, co-owner and CEO of H&M, and he began to deal with strategic issues.
Stefan Persson enjoys skiing, golf and tennis, and also collects English estates: in 2013, the billionaire bought an estate in Wiltshire - Savernake, which is located not far from his other properties in Hampshire near the village of Linkenholt.
2nd place - Liliane Bettencourt - $34.6 billion
Age: 91. Country: France. Sources: L'Oreal.
Liliane Bettencourt is the heiress to the L'Oreal cosmetics empire, and her fortune continues to increase due to the rising quotations of the French company. In 2013 alone, the growth was 9%.
Liliane Bettencourt, in fact, only formally remains the largest owner of the business empire founded by her father: since 2011, she has been removed from the operational management of L’Oreal after losing to Francoise Bettencourt-Mayer, her own daughter, in a protracted legal battle. She proved that her mother, due to illness and old age, was no longer able to lead. Lillian suffers from senile dementia and is already over 90 years old.
In February 2012, the grandmother was replaced on the board of directors by her grandson Jean-Victor Meyer, who turned 25 years old. In 2014, the Bettencourt family strengthened its influence on L’Oreal, as it bought a % of the company’s shares from the Swiss food manufacturer Nestle. As a result of the transaction, the share of Lilian's heirs increased to 33%.
Not only is this woman a rich woman - the editors of the site have compiled a site for you with a large fortune.
1st place - Amancio Ortega - $64 billion
Age: 77. Country: Spain. Sources: retail.
Amancio Ortega is the owner of the Inditex trading empire (Zara brands and so on). With his assets, Amancio Ortega is the richest man in Europe. In addition, in the ranking of the richest people in the world, Ortega took third place in the ranking, where he was head and shoulders ahead of the famous billionaire Warren Buffett.
The “King of Retail” became richer by another $7 billion in a year, and in just two years his capital grew by a fantastic $26.5 billion.
Despite the fact that Amancio Ortega left the post of chairman of the board of directors of Inditex back in 2011, he is in no hurry to give up control of the company - today he still owns approximately 60% of the shares. The billionaire is also expanding his portfolio of real estate properties, their market value is estimated at $4 billion.
Most of the properties have not yet exhausted their growth potential, as they were acquired by Ortega “at the very bottom” of the collapsed market during the years of crisis. The crown jewel of his collection is the Torre Picasso skyscraper in Madrid (the local Google office is located there). The owner of Inditex acquired four new buildings in 2013, in London, the capital of Spain and New York, spending $830 million on acquisitions, the total number of properties owned by him increased to 26.
Ortega, the son of a railroad worker, started out as a simple assistant in a clothing store. Together with his wife Rosalia Mera, the future billionaire sewed underwear for sale in a hotel, organizing his first business. And today he is the richest man in Europe.
Amancio, although he is the first in Europe, is still only the seventh in the world. not Bill Gates, but South American businessman Carlos Slim Helu.
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