Stefan Persson
Chairman, H&M
REAL TIME NET WORTH — as of 4/12/17
$18.2 B
Stefan Persson is Sweden’s richest person by way of global cheap chic fashion retailer H&M (Hennes & Mauritz), where he owns a 28% stake and serves as chairman. His father, Erling Persson, founded the chain in 1947. In order to meet its goal of a 10% annual increase in new stores, H&M has to average one store opening a day. Led by Stefan Persson as the chairman, the fast fashion giant opened new stores in a number of new markets, including India and South Africa, while most of the new stores are opened in China. Stefan was CEO for 16 years until 1998. Son Karl-Johan, also a billionaire, is now in the top job. Two other children, Charlotte Söderström and Tom Persson, are billionaires, as is sister Lottie. Outside of H&M, Persson has been building a portfolio of first class retail property across Europe and the U.S. Through Ramsbury Property he owns real estate in some of the worlds’s most glamorous shopping districts, spanning Fifth Ave in New York, Oxford Street in London, Via del Corso in Rome and the Champs-Elysée in Paris. In the U.K. he owns the 8,700-acre Savernake Estate in Wiltshire and Linkenholt, the Hampshire village he bought in 2009. He enjoys downhill skiing, tennis and golf.
Swedish business magnate Stefan Persson has an estimated net worth of $19 billion in January 2018.
He earned his net worth as the current chairman (since 1979) and main shareholder in the fashion company Hennes & Mauritz (H&M). The global cheap chic apparel retailer was founded by his father Erling Persson in 1947. He took over the company from his father in 1982 and he has served as its chief executive until 1998 when he was replaced by his son, Karl-Johan Persson. He has been chairman since 1979. The stock is up 40% since then, as the retailer continues its international expansion. It now has 2629 stores in 45 countries including its first in Malaysia that opened in 2012.
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