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Dieter Schwarz

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Dieter Schwarz
Born (1939-09-24) 24 September 1939 (age 85)
Heilbronn, Germany
OccupationBusinessman
TitleFormer chairman and CEO of Lidl and Kaufland
Term1977-2004
SuccessorKlaus Gehrig
Spouse
Franziska Weipert
​
(m. 1963)​
Children2 daughters

Dieter Schwarz (born 24 September 1939) is a German billionaire businessman, and owner of the Schwarz-Gruppe. He is the former chairman and CEO of the supermarket chain Lidl, and the hypermarket chain Kaufland.

Career

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In 1973, Dieter Schwarz joined the "Lidl & Schwarz KG" business of his father Josef Schwarz and opened the company's first discount supermarket, inspired by Karl and Theo Albrecht.[1] After his father died in 1977, he took control of the discount chain. He became CEO and expanded the business outside of Germany.[2] Soon afterwards, Schwarz bought the naming rights for Lidl from an unrelated person named Ludwig Lidl, a former schoolteacher, in order to side-step a legal battle with the co-owner A. Lidl.[3][failed verification]

Net worth

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In 2009, he was estimated to be worth 10 billion euro.[4] As of October 2012, he was estimated to be worth 12 billion euro, an increase from 11.5 billion euro in 2011.[5] In 2013, he was estimated be worth €19.6 billion, and ranked the 24th richest person in the world.[3] As of February 2014, he was ranked as 23rd richest person in the world in the Hurun Report Global Rich List.[6]

In 2023, Forbes listed Schwarz as the wealthiest man in Germany and the 25th richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of US$47.2 billion.[7] Since 1999, Schwarz manages his resources through the tax-exempt Dieter Schwarz Foundation (gGmbH, limited liability company with a charitable purpose), when he transferred his shares in Lidl and Kaufland into it, deciding just how much of his profits go into the foundation.[8] The Dieter Schwarz Foundation supports education and daycare facilities for children, for example, as well as science and research projects.[9]

As per Forbes list of The Richest People In The World, dated 8 March 2024, Dieter Schwarz is ranked #37 with a net worth of $38 Billion.[10]

Personal life

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In 1963, Schwarz married Franziska Weipert. They live in Heilbronn and have two daughters, Regine and Monika.[11] He was strongly influenced by his membership in the Protestant free church community.[12] Schwarz is known to be very protective of his privacy,[3] to an extent that no media recordings of Schwarz exist, and he refuses any kind of interview. Meanwhile, just three photos of him are known to exist in the press or in the image search of Google.[13][14][15][16]

References

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  1. ^ News.de-Redaktion (26 September 2018). "Lidl-Gründer Dieter Schwarz privat: SO leben der wohl reichste Deutsche und seine Familie". Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  2. ^ "These are the 50 richest people in the world right now". Business Insider. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  3. ^ a b c Oltermann, Philip (23 June 2014). "Germany's Lidl seen overtaking big rivals Tesco, Carrefour and Aldi". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  4. ^ "Aldi-Brüder sind immer noch di iin Deutschen" [Aldi brothers are still the richest Germans] (in German). Norddeutscher Rundfunk. 6 October 2009. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
  5. ^ "Aldi-Clan dominiert Deutschlands Milliardäre" [Aldi family dominates German billionaires] (in German). Spiegel Online. 9 October 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
  6. ^ "Hurun Report Global Rich List 2014". Hurun Report. February 2014. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
  7. ^ "Dieter Schwarz". Forbes. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  8. ^ de Jong, David (23 October 2012). "German Billionaire Schwarz Seen Having Tax-Exempt Fortune". Bloomberg. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  9. ^ "Forbes profile: Dieter Schwarz". Forbes. Archived from the original on 6 March 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  10. ^ "The Richest People In The World".
  11. ^ "Bloomberg Billionaires Index: Dieter Schwarz". Bloomberg LP. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
  12. ^ "Dieter Schwarz". Archived from the original on 12 February 2013. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  13. ^ Karsten Langer: Dieter Schwarz: Aldis Erzfeind. In: Manager Magazin. 2 March 2004, retrieved on 1 March 2021.
  14. ^ Charlotte Theile: Der neue reichste Deutsche. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. 23 July 2014, retrieved on 1 March 2021.
  15. ^ „Wie bei einem Drogendealer“: So geheimnisvoll lebt der Lidl-Gründer und einer der reichsten Deutschen. Archived 27 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine In: Business Insider Germany, 25 August 2017, retrieved on 1 March 2021.
  16. ^ News article with photo of Schwartz, 1 March 2021.
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