Ingvar Feodor Kamprad is a Swedish and the founder of
IKEAIKEA is a privately held, international home products company that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture such as beds and desks, appliances and home accessories. The company is the world's largest furniture retailer...
, a retail company.
According to
ForbesForbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
magazine, as of 2011 he is the 162nd wealthiest person in the world with an estimated
net worthIn business, net worth is the total assets minus total outside liabilities of an individual or a company. For a company, this is called shareholders' preference and may be referred to as book value. Net worth is stated as at a particular year in time...
of around US$6 billion in 2011. According to Swedish business weekly
Veckans AffärerVeckans Affärer is a Swedish business journal published weekly, dealing in all business-related matters both within and outside Sweden....
, he is the wealthiest person in the world with an estimated wealth of between $50bn and $90bn, owning the IKEA franchise through
Interogo FoundationInterogo Foundation is a foundation registered in Liechtenstein. It owns Inter IKEA Holding S.A. registered in Luxembourg, which owns Inter IKEA Systems B.V, and thereby controls the intellectual property of the IKEA brand. Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA, and his family control the Interogo...
and
Stichting INGKA FoundationThe Stichting INGKA Foundation is a Dutch foundation founded in 1982 by Ingvar Kamprad, the Swedish billionaire, who is founder and chairman of IKEA. INGKA is one of the largest charitable foundations in the world. The name "INGKA" comes from a contraction of his name; "Stichting" is the Dutch...
.
Early life
Ingvar Kamprad was born in Pjätteryd, now part of
Älmhult MunicipalityÄlmhult Municipality is a municipality in central Kronoberg County in southern Sweden, where the town of Älmhult is seat.In 1901 Älmhult was detached from Stenbrohult and made a market town...
, and grew up on a farm called Elmtaryd (now spelled
Älmtaryd), near the small village of
AgunnarydAgunnaryd is a locality and a parish situated in Ljungby Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden with 215 inhabitants in 2005.Agunnaryd is chiefly associated with the industrialist Ingvar Kamprad, who founded IKEA . It has one school, a kindergarten, a small supermarket named 'Mat öppet', and four...
in
Ljungby MunicipalityLjungby Municipality is a municipality in Kronoberg County, southern Sweden, where the town Ljungby is seat.In 1971 the City of Ljungby was amalgamated with the rural municipalities surrounding it, thus creating the present municipality. In 1974 a minor adjustment of the boundaries took place...
in the province of
Småland' is a historical province in southern Sweden.Småland borders Blekinge, Scania or Skåne, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name Småland literally means Small Lands. . The latinized form Smolandia has been used in other languages...
, Sweden.
He is a second generation Swede of German descent, his grandfather having moved the family to Sweden from Germany.
Career
Kamprad began to develop a business as a young boy, selling
matchA match is a tool for starting a fire under controlled conditions. A typical modern match is made of a small wooden stick or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by frictional heat generated by striking the match against a suitable surface...
es to neighbors from his
bicycleA bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....
. He found that he could buy matches in bulk very cheaply from
StockholmStockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, sell them individually at a low price, and still make a good profit. From matches, he expanded to selling
fishFish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
, Christmas tree decorations,
seedA seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s, and later
ballpoint penA ballpoint pen is a writing instrument with an internal ink reservoir and a sphere for a point. The internal chamber is filled with a viscous ink that is dispensed at its tip during use by the rolling action of a small sphere...
s and
pencilA pencil is a writing implement or art medium usually constructed of a narrow, solid pigment core inside a protective casing. The case prevents the core from breaking, and also from marking the user’s hand during use....
s. When Kamprad was 17, his father gave him a cash reward for succeeding in his studies.
IKEA was founded in 1943 at his uncle Ernst's kitchen table. In 1948, Kamprad diversified his portfolio, adding furniture. His business was mostly-mail order.
The acronym IKEA is made up of the initials of his name (
Ingvar
Kamprad) plus those of
Elmtaryd, the family farm where he was born, and the nearby village
Agunnaryd.
Kamprad has lived in
EpalingesEpalinges is a municipality in the district of Lausanne in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.It is a suburb of the city of Lausanne.-Geography:...
, Switzerland since 1976. According to an interview with
TSRThe Three-letter abbreviation TSR has a variety of meanings, depending on context:-Science and technology:* Terminate and Stay Resident, utility programs used in MS-DOS* Thermo Sulfate Reduction, relevant to the Kraft process...
, the French language Swiss TV broadcaster, Kamprad drives a 15-year-old Volvo 240, flies only
economy class__FORCETOC__Economy class, also called coach class , steerage, or standard class, is the lowest class of seating in air travel, rail travel, and sometimes ferry or maritime travel....
, and encourages IKEA employees always to write on both sides of a paper. He reportedly recycles tea bags and is known to pocket the salt and pepper packets at restaurants." In addition, Kamprad has been known to visit IKEA for a "cheap meal." He is also known to buy
Christmas paperGift wrapping refers to the act of enclosing a gift in some sort of material. Wrapping paper is a kind of paper designed for gift wrapping. Gifts may also be wrapped in a box...
and presents in post-Christmas sales. The firm he created is still known for the attention it gives to cost control, operational details and continuous product development, allowing it to lower its prices by an of average 2-3% over the decade to 2010, while continuing its global expansion. Kamprad explains his social philosophy thusly in his "A Furniture Dealer's Testament," "It is not only for cost reasons that we avoid the luxury hotels. We don't need flashy cars, impressive titles, uniforms or other status symbols. We rely on our strength and our will!"
Despite this, Kamprad allows himself some luxuries; he owns a
villaA villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...
in an upmarket part of Switzerland, a large country estate in Sweden, and a
vineyardA vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...
in
ProvenceProvence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
, France; he also drove a
PorschePorsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry....
for several years.
While working with furniture manufacturers in
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
earlier in his career, Kamprad became an
alcoholicAlcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
. He has, however, stated that his drinking is now under control.
Net worth
According to Swedish business weekly
Veckans AffärerVeckans Affärer is a Swedish business journal published weekly, dealing in all business-related matters both within and outside Sweden....
, he is one of the wealthiest people in the world. This report is based on the assumption that Kamprad owns the entire company, an approach that both IKEA and the Kamprad family reject. Kamprad retains little ownership in the company, having transferred his interest to
Stichting INGKA FoundationThe Stichting INGKA Foundation is a Dutch foundation founded in 1982 by Ingvar Kamprad, the Swedish billionaire, who is founder and chairman of IKEA. INGKA is one of the largest charitable foundations in the world. The name "INGKA" comes from a contraction of his name; "Stichting" is the Dutch...
and INGKA Holding as part of a complex tax sheltering scheme that leaves his actual degree of control vague.
As of March 2007, Ingvar Kamprad was the fourth wealthiest person in the world, according to
ForbesForbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
magazine, with an estimated net worth of US$33 billion. In March 2010, Forbes magazine estimated his fortune at US$23 billion, making him the 11th richest person in the world. Though, as of March 2011, Kamprad's net worth had declined substantially (down US$17 billion) to a final value of US$6 billion. He had fallen from 11th spot on Forbes to 162nd because his lawyers produced documents that prove the foundation he created, and heads, in
LiechtensteinThe Principality of Liechtenstein is a doubly landlocked alpine country in Central Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over , and it has an estimated population of 35,000. Its capital is Vaduz. The biggest town is Schaan...
owns
IKEAIKEA is a privately held, international home products company that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture such as beds and desks, appliances and home accessories. The company is the world's largest furniture retailer...
, and its bylaws bar him and his family from benefiting from its funds.
Stichting INGKA Foundation
The Dutch-registered
Stichting INGKA FoundationThe Stichting INGKA Foundation is a Dutch foundation founded in 1982 by Ingvar Kamprad, the Swedish billionaire, who is founder and chairman of IKEA. INGKA is one of the largest charitable foundations in the world. The name "INGKA" comes from a contraction of his name; "Stichting" is the Dutch...
is named after Ingvar Kamprad (
i.e. ING + KA) who owns INGKA Holding, the
parent companyA parent company is a company that owns enough voting stock in another firm to control management and operations by influencing or electing its board of directors; the second company being deemed as a subsidiary of the parent company...
for all IKEA stores. The charitable foundation was reported by the business newspaper
The EconomistThe Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
in May 2006 to be technically the world's wealthiest charity – with an estimated value of at least US$36 billion in 2006 (larger than the
Bill & Melinda Gates FoundationThe Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest transparently operated private foundation in the world, founded by Bill and Melinda Gates. It is "driven by the interests and passions of the Gates family"...
) – but its primary purpose is
corporate taxMany countries impose corporate tax or company tax on the income or capital of some types of legal entities. A similar tax may be imposed at state or lower levels. The taxes may also be referred to as income tax or capital tax. Entities treated as partnerships are generally not taxed at the...
-optimization and anti-
takeoverIn business, a takeover is the purchase of one company by another . In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to the acquisition of a private company.- Friendly takeovers :Before a bidder makes an offer for another...
protection for IKEA. Kamprad is chairman of the foundation.
Works
While generally a private person, Kamprad has published a few notable works. He first detailed the IKEA concept of frugality and enthusiasm in a manifesto entitled
A Testament of a Furniture Dealer. Written in 1976, it has since been considered the fundamental ideology of the IKEA furniture retail concept. He also worked with Swedish journalist Bertil Torekull on the book
Leading by Design: The IKEA Story. In the autobiographical account, he further describes his philosophies and the trials and triumphs of the founding of IKEA.
Fascist involvement
In 1994, the personal letters of the Swedish
fascistFascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
activist
Per EngdahlPer Claes Sven Edvard Engdahl was a leading Swedish far right politician. He was the leader of Sveriges Fascistiska Kamporganisation, SFKO during the 1920's.-Career:...
were made public after his death, and it was revealed that Kamprad had joined Engdahl's pro-fascist New Swedish Movement in 1942. Kamprad had raised funds for and recruited members to said group at least as late as September 1945. When Kamprad quit the group is unknown, but he remained a friend of Engdahl until the early 1950s.
Kamprad devotes two chapters to his time in Nysvenska Rörelsen in his book,
Leading By Design: The IKEA Story and, in a 1994 letter to IKEA employees, called his affiliation with the organization the "greatest mistake of his life."
In 2011, journalist Elisabeth Åsbrink revealed that the Swedish secret service created a file on Kamprad already in 1943 titled "Nazi" and that Kamprad in a interview 2010 told her: "Per Engdahl is a great man, and I will maintain that as long as I live".
See also
- List of billionaires
- IKANO
IKANO is a Swedish group that is owned by the family Kamprad, which also founded IKEA. IKANO manages the Kamprad family fortune. The organization's head office is located in Luxembourg....
, Swedish group that is owned by the family Kamprad
External links