richest-self-made-billionaires January 2016
8.
Ingvar Kamprad
Age: 89
Country: Sweden
Industry: Retail
Source of wealth: Self-made; IKEA
At
17, Ingvar Kamprad founded IKEA, now the world's largest
furniture retailer with sales exceeding $33 billion. Kamprad's plan
from the beginning was to set up "eternal life" for IKEA, which meant
keeping it off the stock market and securing it within a complex corporate structure that includes a charitable arm and a
retail and franchise arm, collectively known as Stichting INGKA Foundation. While the Swedish business magnate is
no longer directly involved in day-to day decision-making operations, he
still sits in on meetings as senior adviser to the supervisory board.
Among
his peers, the 89-year-old founder is incredibly frugal despite his massive net worth. He
reportedly flies economy, stays in cheap hotels, and has driven the same Volvo
for more than two decades. He also infamously moved IKEA and his family out of Sweden in the 1970s to avoid its onerous
tax rates. He returned to live in his home country in 2013 after a long spell
in Switzerland. But
Kamprad has also been generous with his wealth, donating to child rights,
immunization, environment and wildlife, education, and medical research, with
personal lifetime giving of $300 million.
Ref: Business finder
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