Dieter Schwarz

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Dieter Schwarz (born September 24, 1939 in Heilbronn ) is a German company founder and owner of the Schwarz Group ( Kaufland / Lidl ). Schwarz is currently (as of September 2019) with an estimated fortune of around 41.5 billion euros as the richest individual in Germany.

Origin and education

Lidl & Co. Südfrüchtenhandlung at Sülmerstrasse 54 in Heilbronn (around 1905)
Participations within the Schwarz Group

In 1930 Dieter Schwarz's father, Josef Schwarz (1903–1977), joined the Heilbronn Lidl & Co. Südfrüchtenhandlung as a personally liable partner ( general partner ) . The company was renamed Lidl & Schwarz KG and quickly expanded into a food wholesaler for the Heilbronn-Franken region .

Josef Schwarz's only son, Dieter Schwarz, completed a commercial apprenticeship in the food wholesaler Lidl & Schwarz KG in Heilbronn from 1958 to 1960 after graduating from high school . At that time, his father was the sole managing director of the company.

Foundation of the discount group Lidl (1973)

In 1973 Dieter Schwarz opened his first discount store in Ludwigshafen am Rhein on Mundenheimer Strasse. Because he could not easily take on the name Lidl for legal reasons and to avoid the pun " black market ", he secured himself legally by buying the name rights from retired vocational school teacher and painter Ludwig Lidl for 1000  DM . After Lidl's expansion within Germany, Lidl's market entry began in other parts of Europe in 1988.

Currently (2020) there are over 11,000 Lidl branches in Europe and the USA , making Lidl the largest discounter in the world in terms of the number of branches.

Founding of the Kaufland supermarket chain (1984)

In 1968 Dieter Schwarz and his father opened the first supermarket under the name Handelshof in Backnang in Swabia . In 1984 the first supermarket opened in Neckarsulm under the then new name Kaufland. All Handelshof supermarkets have been renamed Kaufland supermarkets. After the change in the GDR in 1989/90 , Kaufland expanded massively into the East German federal states. The first East German Kaufland supermarket was set up in Meißen in 1990 . Today Kaufland is the market leader in the supermarket segment in the new federal states. In 1998 the first Kaufland branch abroad was opened in Kladno in the Czech Republic. Kaufland operates further branches in Central and Eastern European countries.

In Europe there are currently (2020) over 1270 Kaufland supermarkets.

Sole owner of the Schwarz Group (1977 to 2004)

When Josef Schwarz died in 1977 at the age of 74, Dieter Schwarz took over the food wholesaler Lidl & Schwarz KG . At this point in time, Dieter Schwarz already had 30 Lidl branches. In 1976 Klaus Gehrig became managing director under Dieter Schwarz. The company's activities were divided into the area of ​​discount stores (small areas) under the name Lidl and the area of ​​full-range retailers (large areas) Kaufland . When Dieter Schwarz withdrew from management, he transferred his tax-saving stake to the Dieter Schwarz Foundation, whose purpose is, among other things, to promote science and research, art and culture.

Since 2004, Klaus Gehrig has been the sole general partner of Schwarz Unternehmensstreuhand KG and thus head of the Schwarz Group. Klaus Gehrig is to remain CEO until he is 75 years old (in 2023). A successor should have been incorporated in the last two years. Who that will be is still open.

The Schwarz Group is currently (2020) the largest retail group in Europe in terms of annual sales and employs around 429,000 people.

Billions in fortunes

In September 2019, the business magazine Bilanz estimated Dieter Schwarz's total assets at around 41.5 billion euros. According to various asset assessments, he is considered the richest individual in Germany.

Personal

Dieter Schwarz has been married to Franziska Schwarz (née Weipert) since 1963. The Schwarz couple have two daughters of legal age who are not employed in their father's company. Dieter Schwarz is a member of an evangelical free church.

Although Schwarz has been one of the richest people in Germany since the 2010s , there were no film recordings in the media , only three photos are known in the press or Google image search in Germany. He is considered to be extremely public shy, conceals his identity and refuses all types of interviews.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Dieter Schwarz outclasses all other empires in Germany on welt.de, accessed on September 12, 2019
  2. ↑ Karsten Kilian: Branded Products . Markenlexikon.de, accessed on April 16, 2017.
  3. ↑ Expansion in Australia: Down Under is looking forward to Kaufland . ( handelsblatt.com [accessed April 24, 2017]).
  4. ↑ Lidl opens its first branches in the USA. In: Spiegel Online . June 15, 2017. Retrieved June 21, 2017 .
  5. ^ Date of birth according to Manfred Stockburger: The turning point at Kaufland. Neckarsulm How CEO Kaudewitz wants to make the grocer attractive again. In: Heilbronn voice . May 14, 2016 ( from Stimme.de [accessed on May 15, 2016]).
  6. ↑ Gehring is the new Lidl and Kaufland boss . handelsblatt.com, March 2, 2004
  7. ↑ Klaus Gehrig in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)
  8. ↑ https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/lidl-schwarz-klaus-gehring-1.4444049
  9. ↑ dde: There are now 195 billionaires living in Germany. In: welt.de . August 24, 2017. Retrieved October 7, 2018 .
  10. ↑ See Global Powers of Retailing studies from 2015, 2016 and 2017; Top 10 global retailers . Deloitte , press release, September 26, 2014, accessed February 13, 2017.
  11. ^ ZDF documentary: The mysterious life of Lidl founder Dieter Schwarz .
  12. ↑ Lidl founder Dieter Schwarz is the richest German . May 7, 2019.
  13. ↑ Heads of the economy: Dieter Schwarz. wiwo.de , February 12, 2013, archived from the original on February 12, 2013 ; accessed on April 16, 2017 .
  14. ^ Steffen Grimberg: The merchant from Heilbronn . In: Die Tageszeitung , June 18, 2005, accessed on April 16, 2017.
  15. ↑ Karsten Langer: Dieter Schwarz: Aldi's arch enemy . In: Manager Magazin , March 2, 2004, accessed April 16, 2017.
  16. ↑ Charlotte Theile : The new richest German . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , July 23, 2014, accessed on September 25, 2018.
  17. ↑ "Like a drug dealer": The Lidl founder and one of the richest Germans lives so mysteriously . In: Business Insider Germany , August 25, 2017, accessed on September 25, 2018.
  18. ↑ Article with photo by Dieter Schwarz , May 21, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Black, Dieter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH September 24, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Heilbronn