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500 richest Germans top Swiss GDP

Published: 9 Oct 12 08:59 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/money/20121009-45437.html

Despite the eurozone debt crisis, Germany’s richest citizens are getting richer. At over €500 billion, the total value of assets belonging to the 500 wealthiest Germans exceeds Switzerland’s gross domestic product, a new ranking said.

The family behind German discount supermarket giant Aldi once again topped this year’s German billionaires, the list published Tuesday in Manager Magazin showed.

With a fortune worth €17.2 billion, the family of 92-year-old Karl Albrecht, who founded the company with his late brother Theo, took the No. 1 spot, while Theo Albrecht‘s sons Berthold and Theo Jr were in second place with a combined fortune of €16 billion.

But the co-founder of software company SAP, Hasso Plattner, saw the biggest gains in the past 12 months - the value of his assets increased by €900 million to nearly €6 billion.

The number of billionaires in Germany also reached a new peak in 2012, with 115 compared to 108 the previous year.

Meanwhile, the debt crisis wreaking havoc across the eurozone hasn’t shaken the super-rich. Germany’s wealthiest 100 citizens saw the value of their assets rise more than 4 percent – putting the figure closer to 2008’s record.

With the exception of those whose fortunes were made in the retail and financial sectors, nearly all branches of German business saw their wealthiest proprietors build on their riches.

But not all of the country’s billionaires had a good year. The family behind the bankrupt Schlecker drugstore chain was left with less than €40 million after seeing its fortunes drop by €1.92 billion, making it the biggest loser on this year’s list.

The Local/arp

What do you think? Leave your comment below.


Your comments about this article:

10:14 October 9, 2012 by Berlin fuer alles
A lot of this being paid for by austerity in the German job market, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and with the courtesy of Angie and her buddies.
10:30 October 9, 2012 by hankeat
Beside many average (poor?) people like to give their money to millionaires through buying overpriced branded products and paying overpriced tickets.
11:19 October 9, 2012 by smart2012
question here is "so what?"

If you go to Africa there will be super rich people who are getting richer every day (even if the economical stuaiton in Africa in average is not of prosperity..) in Greece this is the same.

The question I would have is where those super rich people are investing theior money, and u will easily see that their money are in direction of Russia/China/Brazil/India/Dubai...BILD type of article
12:55 October 9, 2012 by bobmarchiano
Those super rich should be paying there workers at Aldi a living wage.
14:52 October 9, 2012 by LecteurX
I would like to see the link to the original survey. The figures and notions used in the article mean different things. The "total value" of the "assets" or "fortune" of these rich Germans is what it is... their wealth as of today, ie the result of many years, or decades, of work, like the Karl Albrecht, who is 92, and his brother, who recently died, aged 88. They had created their company just after the war, so their enormous "assets" are the result of 65 years at the helm of their successful company.

What's the point of comparing that with the GDP of any country? GDP means the amount of money generated in one country *within a year*. Surely, it would make much more sense to compare a country's GDP with people's annual revenues, rather than measuring up apples and oranges.
18:24 October 9, 2012 by Englishted
On whose back are these riding the "tough path" ?
15:10 October 10, 2012 by hbrodie
the total value of assets belonging to the 500 wealthiest Germans IS Switzerland¦#39;s GDP
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