Karl Wlaschek

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Karl Wlaschek bust in the entrance area of ​​the Kinsky Palace

Karl Wlaschek (born August 4, 1917 in Vienna ; † May 31, 2015 in Graz ) was an Austrian entrepreneur and founder of the Billa retail chain . Since selling his company BML Vermögensverwaltung AG ( "Billa Group") , he served as Real Estate - Investor operates. According to Forbes Magazine , Wlaschek was the third richest Austrian in 2012 and 2015, after Johann Graf and Dietrich Mateschitz .

Life

After graduating from high school, Wlaschek studied chemistry for a few semesters at the Technical University of Vienna . In 1938 he was drafted into the Wehrmacht, until the end of the war he served in France and the Soviet Union. After the Second World War he worked as a bar pianist and band leader under the pseudonym "Charly Walker" . He performed in Kitzbühel and in the Schlosshotel Velden , among others . He was unable to realize his dream of running his own dance café at the time due to insufficient financial resources.

In 1953 Karl Wlaschek opened a perfumery in Vienna- Margareten and offered branded items at discount prices. As a result, WKW (Warenhandel Karl Wlaschek) grew and by 1960 already had 45 branches . Wlaschek transferred the concept to the grocery trade, introduced the self-service system and from 1961 called his branches BILLA (for “cheap shop”).

In the 1990s, Eurobilla expanded abroad. In 1996 Wlaschek sold the group, which at that time was called BML Vermögensverwaltung AG ("Billa Group") , to the German Rewe Group for 1.1 billion euros . The merger was reported to the European Commission in July 1996 and approved by the latter in August.

Since then, Wlaschek has mainly worked in the real estate industry:

After he did not succeed in the privatization of Creditanstalt (the second largest bank in Austria at the time), Wlaschek began to invest his assets in real estate . His real estate holdings were managed in private foundations with names like Amisola , Estrella and Ermione . These included eight palaces in Vienna's inner city (including Kinsky , Ferstel , Harrach ), but also the Andromeda Tower and Ares Tower (both are part of Donau City ), the Vienna Stock Exchange building and numerous inner-city buildings - well over 100 in total Properties throughout Austria.

Karl Wlaschek married for the fifth time in April 2012; he was divorced three times and widowed once. He had two children from his first and second marriage. One of his legendary slogans was: "At the shop I'm i guat, at the women I'm ia Depp."

In December 2005, Wlaschek was a guest on a radio broadcast. At the beginning of the sentence “It hurts me if ...” , which was given in the context of a questionnaire , he added: “... when people say 'I am a Jew'. Bin ka Jud '. ” In a gloss in the daily newspaper Der Standard was criticized for the fact that this statement was “ recorded and edited beforehand, but was broadcast without questioning or commenting ” .

His fortune was estimated at around 4.7 billion euros (according to Forbes list 2012) - making him the third richest native Austrian. In 2015, Forbes estimated his net worth at $ 4.2 billion.

In November 2005, Adolf Haslinger , former rector of the University of Salzburg and long-time friend of Wlaschek, published an authorized biography .

Karl Wlaschek died on May 31, 2015 at the age of 97 in Graz.

Awards

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c derStandard.at - entrepreneur Karl Wlaschek is dead . Article dated June 1, 2015, accessed June 1, 2015.
  2. ↑ a b Forbes 2012 , accessed November 25, 2012.
  3. ↑ a b Entry on Karl Wlaschek in the Austria Forum  (biography). Retrieved June 3, 2015.
  4. ↑ Georg Wailand: The rich and the super-rich in Austria, p. 168 f.
  5. ↑ “Case No. IV / M. 803 - Rewe / Billa. Registration dated July 23, 1996 in accordance with Article 4 of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 4064/89 (Merger Regulation). “ Approval by the EU Commission, August 27, 1996 (PDF; 43 kB) . Retrieved August 26, 2010.
  6. ^ Karl Wlaschek's real estate in the first district of Vienna , in: Falter (weekly newspaper) , No. 33/2015, August 12, 2015, p. 16
  7. ^ Secret wedding of billionaire Wlaschek , kaernten.orf.at, April 16, 2012.
  8. ^ The memoirs of Karl Wlaschek . Wien.orf.at. Retrieved June 6, 2010.
  9. ↑ Breakfast at my place with Claudia Stöckl, broadcast by the Austrian radio station Ö3 on December 18, 2005.
  10. ↑ “How do you hurt Karl Wlaschek? 'Jud!' " , In: Der Standard of December 23, 2005.
  11. ↑ derStandard.at - Mateschitz richest Austrian, Stronach wins . APA notification dated March 3, 2015, accessed March 3, 2015.
  12. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF file; 6.59 MB).
  13. ^ Town hall correspondence of April 13, 2004 (accessed June 1, 2010)
  14. ^ Wiener Zeitung (Official Gazette) of March 18, 2009
  15. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF file; 6.59 MB)
personal data
SURNAME Wlaschek, Karl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Charly Walker
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH 4th August 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH May 31, 2015
Place of death Graz