What is Stefan Quandt's Net Worth?
Stefan Quandt is a German automobile heir who has a net worth of $26 billion. That makes him one of the richest people in Germany. He is also one of the richest people in the world. Stefan has an older sister named Susanne Klatten. Susanne and Stefan inherited their father's stakes in BMW and chemical-maker Altana upon his death in 1982. Technically, Stefan owns slightly more shares of BMW than his sister, and is therefore the company's largest individual shareholder.
Quandt owns a 26% stake in the world's second largest auto maker, BMW. He also owns 85% of logistics company Logwin as well as 11% of RHJ International and 3.6 million shares of software designer Gemalto. Quandt controls homeopathic medicine company Biologische Heilmittel Heel. He is also the owner of 60% of passport and credit card manufacturer Entrust Datacard.
Born in Bad Homburg, Stefan Quandt currently resides in Frankfurt, Germany. He graduated from the University of Karlsruhe with a degree in Engineering, and then worked for a consulting firm in Munich for a few years. He shifted his focus to marketing in the mid-90s, working for Datacard Group in Hong Kong, as a marketing manager. In the early 80s, he inherited just over 17% of BMW from his father, along with a number of other lucrative holdings. He manages all of these under his umbrella corporation Delton AG. Until 2006, he also owned almost 20% of Gemplus International, a digital security company. He was formerly on the boards of Dresdner Bank AG and the Gerling Konzern Allgemeine Versicherungs AG, and is currently on the supervisory board of BMW. His mother and sister also own portions of BMW, as well as a number of other companies.
Early Life and Nazi Connection
Stefan Quandt was born on May 9, 1966 in Bad Homburg, West Germany to Nazi industrialist Herbert Quandt. For his higher education, Quandt attended the University of Karlsruhe, now the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, where he studied engineering and economics from 1987 to 1993.
Herbert Quandt's grandfather Guenther took an inherited family business and grew it into an empire. During World War I, Guenther's company became the largest clothing manufacturer in Germany by producing military uniforms. When WWI was over, Guenther bought a company that made batteries, a company that made sewing machines, a silverware manufacturer and a large stake in car maker Daimler (modern-day Mercedes). Guenther was married to a woman named Magda Ritshcel from 1921 – 1927. Guenther had a son from a previous marriage. That son was Herbert, Susanne's father. In 1923, Magda – Herbert's stepmother – married the extremely-evil Nazi leader Joseph Goebbels.
During World War II, Guenther's companies capitalized on many war time opportunities. They produced batteries for German submarines, firearms, ammunition, missiles and rocket launchers. During the war the company's growth was primarily fueled by 50,000 slave laborers including POWs and members of concentration camps.
After the war, Harald was released from the allied POW camp and Guenther spent time in an internment camp for Nazi sympathizers. Seven years later, Guenther Quandt died and left his thriving empire to sons Harald and Herbert. Harald and Herbert spent the next decade expanding the empire to incredible heights. Herbert purchased 46.7% of BMW in the early 1960s. Harald sold the family's 14% stake in Daimler to the Kuwait Investment Authority for $1 billion in 1974.
Business Holdings
Upon the death of his father in 1982, Quandt inherited 17.4% of the auto manufacturer BMW, which his father had famously rescued from bankruptcy in 1959. He made further purchases over the ensuing years to bring his stake to 23.7%. Following the death of his mother in 2015, Quandt saw his stake increase above the 30% threshold, triggering a mandatory takeover offer under German rules. However, he requested to the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority that he be exempt from those rules. In 2018, Quandt became the largest single shareholder in BMW when his direct ownership increased with shares inherited from his mother.
Quandt inherited his father's holdings in many other companies beyond BMW. He runs many of them through his strategic management holding company Delton AG, which specializes in corporate investments in the pharmaceutical and logistics sectors. Holdings include CEAG, Logwin AG, CeDo Household Products, and the homeopathic preparations company Heel. Quandt has another holding company called Aqton SE that manages such renewable energy investments as Heliatek, Solarwatt, and Kiwigrid. Previously, with his mother, Quandt owned 18.3% of the digital security company Gemplus International before it merged with Axalto in 2006.
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Other Business Activities
After graduating from college, Quandt worked for the Boston Consulting Group in Munich for a year. He subsequently worked as a marketing manager in Hong Kong for the Minneapolis-based Datacard Group from 1994 to 1996. Among his other activities, Quandt has sat on the supervisory boards of Dresdner Bank, Gerling Konzern Allgemeine Versicherungs, and the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. He is also a member of the supervisory board of his alma mater, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and the chair of the board of the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt. Meanwhile, Quandt sits on the boards of trustees of the BMW Foundation, the Eberhard von Kuenheim Foundation, the Johanna Quandt Foundation, and Stiftung Charité.
Political Donations
With his mother and sister, Quandt made substantial donations to the Christian Democratic Union following the 2013 federal elections in Germany. Ahead of the 2017 elections, he donated to both the CDU and the Free Democratic Party.
Philanthropy
Through his non-profit organization Aqtivator, Quandt supports projects for children and families that are focused on education and equality.
Personal Life
In 2005, Quandt married software engineer Katharina. On New Year's Eve that year, they had a daughter. The couple keeps a low profile and resides in Frankfurt.
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