Ingvar Kamprad Net Worth - Pulptastic

What was Ingvar Kamprad’s net worth?

Ingvar Kamprad, a Swedish businessman, had a net worth of $42.5 billion at the time of his death in 2018. He earned his fortune as the founder of the multinational retail company IKEA. Today, IKEA generates more than $40 billion per year in revenue.

Ingvar controlled IKEA through a combination of mildly complex foundations and investment trusts. For example, the Interogo Foundation controls the IKEA concept and trademarks and collects a royalty on all products sold with the IKEA name. Additionally, the Dutch organization Stichting INGKA Foundation is a charity that owns INGKA Holding, the parent company for all IKEA stores. At one point, the charitable foundation was reported by The Economist to be the world’s wealthiest charity, although the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has since become larger.

Today, Ingvar’s three sons control the family investment company Ikano, which operates as an investment fund and the owner of franchise rights for IKEA in various countries.

Ingvar Kamprad’s Net Worth

In 1970, Kamprad moved his family to Switzerland to avoid high Swedish taxes. His net worth eventually reached $40-50 billion, but before moving back to Sweden in 2011, he transferred ownership of IKEA to trusts and foundations, reducing his liquid assets to $113 million. Despite this, most sources estimate his net worth to still be in the billions. Forbes estimated his fortune at $23 billion in 2010, but he fell to 162nd in 2011 after documents proved he couldn’t benefit from the foundation he established. In 2015, he was listed as the eighth wealthiest person in the world, but by 2016, Forbes reported his net worth had decreased to $3.4 billion.

Early Years of Ingvar Kamprad

Ingvar Kamprad was born on March 30, 1926, in Sweden. He began his career as a salesman at a young age, selling matches at a discount when he was just five years old. By the age of seven, he was selling items like fish, Christmas tree decorations, seeds, ballpoint pens, and pencils to his neighbors. Kamprad discovered that he could buy items in bulk at a low price and still make a good profit, which set the foundation for his future business endeavors.

Ingvar Kamprad: The Humble Founder of IKEA

Ingvar Kamprad launched IKEA in 1943 at the age of 17 with a small loan from his father. He started by selling replicas of his uncle’s kitchen table and diversified his portfolio in 1948. The acronym IKEA is made up of the initials of his name, the family farm where he was born, and the nearby village where he was raised.

In 1956, IKEA began “flatpacking” furniture to reduce shipping and storage costs and became extremely successful over the years. Kamprad resigned from the board of Inter IKEA Holding SA in 2013 at the age of 87, saying it was a good time for him to leave and to continue the generation shift that had been ongoing for some years.

Mathias Kamprad, his youngest son, replaced Per Ludbigsson as the chairman of the holding company. Kamprad’s sons, including Mathias, work on the overall vision and long-term strategies of the IKEA company.

Kamprad was known for his humble and low-key lifestyle, despite his insane net worth. He only traveled in coach on commercial airlines, recycled items like tea bags, and re-used wrapping paper at Christmas. He also drove a 1993 Volvo for most of his life and encouraged IKEA employees to always use both sides of a piece of paper. Kamprad’s personal and corporate philosophy was to avoid luxury and rely on strength and will rather than status symbols.

Ingvar Kamprad’s Personal Life

Ingvar Kamprad adopted a daughter named Annika with his first wife Kerstin Wadling, and had three sons with his second wife Margaretha Kamprad Stennert: Peter, Jonas, and Mathias. Kamprad struggled with alcoholism earlier in his career but claimed to have it under control by “drying out” three times a year. Despite his reputation for frugality, Kamprad owned multiple properties including a villa in Switzerland, a large country estate in Sweden, and a vineyard in the south of France. He also drove a Porsche in addition to his Volvo. Kamprad passed away in his sleep at the age of 91 from pneumonia at his home in Sweden in 2018.