Dieter Schwarz Net Worth

Short introduction

Dieter Schwarz is considered the richest person in Germany. There are no private individuals in this country with great wealth. The owner of the Schwarz group, which includes Department Store Kaufland and Lidl, makes Dieter Schwarz the owner of a kingdom. Schwarz is married to Franziska Schwarz (Née Wegert) and has two adult daughters. Almost nothing is known about his personal life.

Early life

The history of Lidl & Schwarz KG starts with Josef Schwarz, father of Dieter Schwarz. In the 1930s, the company developed the company into a food vendor and became a leader in the area around Heilbronn and Fraconia. The only son of the Schwarz family, Dieter, was trained as an entrepreneur after graduating from high school. He did this in 1958 to 1960 at the company of Lidl & Schwarz KG’s father. In early 1962, young Schwarz Spros became a partner in the company. This might be probably mainly because Josef Schwarz’s father had become the sole shareholder of Lidl & Schwarz KG at that time.

Career

The father-son’s team acted very successfully. The first handelshof supermarket opened in 1968. The supermarket handelshof then changed its name to Kaufland, thus establishing the Kaufland Empire. The company grew quickly and immediately had to move its head office to Neckarsulm, where he was still at this time.

Dieter Schwarz wants to focus on the discount market early on. In 1973 he opened his first store. However, he first had to find a suitable name and did not want to start his supermarket chain with a scary name “Black Market”. Therefore, he bought name rights for “lidl” from Ludwig Lidl painter for only 1000 shops. To this day, he is likely to be disturbed by this small amount, given the large assets of the Schwarz group.

Since my father’s death in 1977, Dieter Schwarz has been the only owner of the Black Empire. At that time, 30 branches had been opened. Schwarz tried several types of supermarkets until he found the right concept. From now on, Lidl must be a discourse in a rather small area and Kaufland must offer full reach in a larger area.

In the 1980s, Dieter Schwarz had expanded his compassion abroad. The first foreign market was opened in France. Italy and the United Kingdom followed. Today Lidl is represented and known in almost all European countries, and even in the United States.

Brother Kaufland also developed very well. Initially known as a handelshof, the market was replaced by Kaufland in 1984. On a reunification journey, many Kaufland branches opened in new federal countries. Kaufland also developed abroad. The first branch was opened in the Czech Republic in 1998.

In 1999 Dieter Schwarz retired from management. He transferred his shares to the GGMBH Schwarz Foundation Dieter. With the help of a foundation, Schwarz supports art, culture, research and science.

The Schwarz group was divided into Schwarz Beteiligungs-GMBH companies, The Dieter Schwarz Foundation and Schwarz Untenehmensstreuh KG. The company has different shares and voting rights.

Career highlights

The biggest step in his career is the only takeover of Lidl & Schwarz KG after the death of his father in 1977. The expansion of the supermarket chain that is very successful in Lidl and Kaufland in Germany and abroad can also be counted between the great success in the Dieter Schwarz’s Life. Throughout Europe there are lidl branches that are built based on the same principle. According to his own statement, the Schwarz group operates 10,800 LIDL branches in 32 countries.

Amazing facts

In 2008, the group became bad because they had their employees monitored with video cameras. This causes great anger between the population and among employees.

Dieter Schwarz is very embarrassed by the public. In Facebook and Instagram, billionaires protect their privacy. There is no official photo of Dieter Schwarz on the internet. He always refused the interview. He confirmed his fear of the public with fear of kidnapping and protecting his family. Apart from his wealth, Dieter Schwarz today can run freely and not disturbed by his wife through the city where he lives and takes part in public life without being recognized.

Dieter Schwarz received a merit medal from the state of Baden-Württemberg. In 2017 he became a citizen of Honorary Heilbronn.

The foundation is very involved in the fields of education and research. For example, this allows Munich to hold the Professor’s position with 20 positions as a branch in Heilbronn.