richest

the richest man in Germany and owner of Lidl

by

The name “Dieter Schwarz” may not sound familiar to you right away, but if we talk about Lidl, things change. Well, Dieter Schwarz is the head of the family emporium of Lidl and Kaufland. And it is normal that neither the name nor the face is familiar to you, because the “German Juan Roig” He is extremely jealous of his privacy in a globalized and permanently connected world like the one we live in thanks to big tech like Google, Meta or Amazon. Precisely at that table is where the group wants to sit. Schwarz Digitsits technological side responsible until now for the IT of the almost 15,000 supermarkets that the chain has around the world. As synthesize Bernd Wagner, their sales manager: “If you don’t sit at the table, you end up being part of the menu.” From the supermarket to the cloud. It seems like a huge leap because in fact it is, but the Schwarz have been making their first steps for years. In 2018 they began developing their own internal cloud (called Stackit) to manage the critical infrastructure of its supermarkets independently. In 2021 they acquired the Israeli cybersecurity company XM Cyber ​​for about $700 million. In 2023 the group announced the creation of Schwarz Digits combining the cloud, cybersecurity and e-commerce and at that time they already had 7,500 people on staff. Originally this infrastructure was designed for internal use, but the next step has been to open it to external clients. A specific type of client: who seeks digital sovereignty. Companies and public institutions that want to process their data exclusively in Europe, with high standards of data protection and legal control. And now has important clientssuch as the government of the Netherlands, some German ministries, the KPN telecom or the Dutch Central Bank. Why is it important. This step forward comes at a time when Europe is missing the boat on artificial intelligence and the United States, the official supplier of the old continent, is converting its most valuable asset (the most advanced AI models) into export technology subject to controls, such as we have already seen with Claude Mythos. In fact, the CEO of Mistral has already warned that Europe only has two years to catch up if it does not want to be a vassal. In short, Europe has to put the turbo in models, but also chips and infrastructure such as data centers. And it’s in it. The institutional plan is ambitious and considers private collaboration as essential, but the fact that it is one of the largest retailers in Europe and not a newly arrived startup provides a plus: own capital on a large scale and without depending on external investors, as Stackit herself emphasizes by presenting itself as a company “without external shareholder interests, without changes in ownership.” Context. Currently, three American companies hold 70% of the European cloud infrastructure market, according to Synergy datacompared to a paltry 15% from European suppliers. In short: the market that Stackit is targeting is succulent and its room for growth is enormous. And your work in the old continent and the country that has historically been the engine of Europe, more than welcome: in the words of the German Minister of DigitalizationKarsten Wildberger: “Germany needs processing capacity if it wants to compete in the first division in artificial intelligence.” In detail. Today Stackit manages several data centers in Germany and Austria and has relevant alliances: it hosts models from the German AI firm Aleph Alpha (where the Schwarz group has invested) and has a system called AuditGPT that uses Deutsche Bahn. Additionally, Google Workspace has been hosted since 2024 in data centers operated by Schwarz. Its most visible upcoming project is the Lübbenau data center, built on a former lignite thermal power plant. With 11 billion euros of investment and a first phase planned for the end of 2027, it is designed to work with renewable energy and will have the capacity to house 100,000 GPUs. Yes, but. Although the vision and business and industrial capacity of the Schwarz Group is beyond doubt, the big bet of the richest man in Germany is a complicated adventure because it has hyperscalers such as Google, Amazon or Microsoft in front of it, which implies economic muscle at another level, decades of advantage in software and technological experience that the German company does not yet have. Furthermore, American big tech companies are not willing to give up ground on the old continent: in November 2025 Google announced a €5.5 billion investment in Germany, including a new data center in Dietzenbach. And although digital sovereignty is a very strong claim, Stackit still depends on open source technologies and partners like CrowdStrike or Aleph Alpha for its catalog of services, so it is more aspirational than a reality. In Xataka | Who can do more, Google or seven small Dutch companies together? Europe is on the verge of discovering it In Xataka | To become technologically “independent” from the US, the European Union already has a plan: four desperate measures Cover | Xataka with Magnific

A millionaire went to bed one day being the richest man in the world the next day he was bankrupt… twice

by

History is full of names that they lose their fortunes for an achievement of bad decisionsbut also of others who lost their assets due to a stroke of bad luck. The story of Nelson Bunker Hunt is one of the latter, who not only lost his fortune once due to a stroke of bad luck: he lost it twiceand neither time was the fault entirely his. The name of this millionaire is barely known today, but between the late 70s and early 80s, he was synonymous with enormous wealth: the richest man on the planet, owner of oil wells in the Libyan desert and such a large portion of the world silver market that he managed to twist the arm of Wall Street. A coup colonel and a bad Thursday in 1980 reminded him that no fortune, no matter how enormous, is safe from history. From Arkansas to the Libyan desert after the black gold Nelson was born in 1926 in El Dorado, Arkansas. His father, H. L. Huntwas already an oil magnate with fifteen children from three different women. Nelson wanted to match him, at least in terms of wealth, so he went looking for oil outside of Texas. His first attempts in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan They were a total failure. But the third time’s the charm and in 1961 he tried his luck in Libya. A stroke of luck led the young entrepreneur to obtain Concession 65, a huge area of ​​32,400 square kilometers of desert land to exploit the Sarir sitewhich still today continues to be the largest oil field of the country. That made him a multimillionaire almost overnight. As and how did he count the BBCfor more than a decade, Sarir generated billions of dollars for Hunt’s company. Muammar al-Gaddafi It all ended in 1973, when a colonel named Muammar al-Gaddafi took power and nationalized all its oil wells without prior notice. Over time, that same site served to amass the dictator’s personal fortune, which some researchers even valued at more than 200,000 million of dollars. However, Hunt lost the goose that laid the golden (black) eggs of his oil empire due to a coup d’état, and bad luck, that he did not see coming. Silver as an unexpected refuge Far from giving up, Hunt He reinvested what was left of his fortune on ranches, in breeding thoroughbred horses and in new oil businesses. Together with his brothers Herbert and Lamar, he began buying silver in the mid-seventies, as strategy to protect your fortune against inflation. What started as an investment in a safe haven soon became an obsession. By 1979 the Hunts controlled about a third of all the money deprived of the planet. The price of silver went from trading at six dollars an ounce to exceeding $49.45 thanks to the position of power over the silver market exercised by the Hunt brothers. Which implied that his fortune was also growing in the same proportion. The Hunt brothers’ control of the silver market reached levels that even Tiffany’s published an advertisement in it New York Times accusing them of artificially make any silver object more expensivefrom baby spoons to photo reels. “We find it unacceptable for anyone to hoard billions, yes, billions, of dollars in silver and therefore drive up the price so high that others have to pay artificially high prices for items made of silver,” the article read. According what was published for the BBCthe silver magnate reportedly told Time magazine in January 1980 that “silver seemed safer than oil concessions abroad. And precious metals were a good hedge against paper money.” Anyone has a bad Thursday Thursday, March 27, 1980 would be a day that would be burned into Hunt’s head. His arrived second major financial disaster. That day, known as Silver Thursdaythe price of silver plummeted below $11 in a matter of hours. The Hunts’ silver position, valued shortly before at more than $4.5 billion, was transformed into a debt of $1.7 billion, as detailed Britannica. A group of New York banks had to set up an emergency line of credit to prevent the Hunt bankruptcy from dragging down half of Wall Street with them. Years of trials later, the Futures Trading Commission fined them each $10 million and a lifetime ban to operate with raw materials. In 1988, Nelson Bunker Hunt officially declared bankruptcy. His assets, then valued at just 150 million, were completely liquidated to pay debts and back taxes. He had to sell up to his 580 purebred horses. When asked by Congress about his fortune, he replied with dark humor: “a billion dollars is not what it used to be.” He spent his last years in a modest house in Dallas, and died in 2014 in a residence, at 88 years old. His brother Herbert had better luck: sold his assets in Montana for $1.5 billion in 2012 and died in 2024 with a assets of 4.7 billion dollars, according to Forbes. Nelson, on the other hand, went down in history as the man who He was the richest on the planet and ended up with nothing… twice. In Xataka | In the 19th century, a US millionaire set out to invade countries on his own: he founded two republics of which he was president Image | Hall of FameUnsplash (Mohamed Fsili, Scottsdale Mint, Colton Sturgeon), Flikr (Esther Vargas)

The list of the richest in Spain has taken an unexpected turn but there is something that has not changed at all: Amancio Ortega

by

The great fortunes in Spain have been booming for five years in a row. As the global economy grapples with wars, inflation and political uncertainty, the heritage of the richest in Spain It hasn’t stopped growing. The last year was especially striking because the group of the hundred largest assets in the country increased their fortune by 14.3%, reaching an unprecedented figure: 373,450 million euros. What makes the 2026 edition of the annual list especially interesting that elaborates The Worldis that the distribution of that wealth presents notable surprises: there are names whose assets have grown stratospherically, new faces who enter the billionaires’ club for the first time, and one that has been around for decades at the top without anyone being able to displace him. Record in joint assets. The sum of the hundred largest fortunes in the country reached the impressive sum of 373,450 million euros in 2026, compared to the 326,720 million attributed to them in 2025. This implies that the group of the richest people in Spain has increased their assets by 14.3% in just 12 months. The main reason for this growth is due to the behavior of the Spanish stock market: the Ibex 35 appreciated by 50% in a single year, boosting the value of the shares of those who have its listed companies. However, the stock market boom does not fully explain this phenomenon. The companies of some of the people who appear at the top of this list are not listed, such as Mercadona or Mango, but they also had record years. Few movements at the top. The list of millionaires in Spain in 2026 does not present significant changes in the names that make it up, especially in the top positions, where Amancio Ortega, Rafael del Pino and Juan Roig lead the list easily. However, there have been some changes that do not imply a loss of assets as such, but rather respond to the fact that some fortunes have had explosive growth, while in others it has been more progressive.The most relevant movements of the year have the Puig and Daurella families as protagonists. The Puig family, driven by the listing of the cosmetic group that bears their last name and the possible integration with Estée Lauderrises to fifth place, overtaking to Sol Daurellaheir to the empire of the world’s leading Coca-Cola bottler, which is relegated to sixth place. For its part, the Entrecanales family rises from tenth to eighth place, increasing its assets by 66.93% from 5,035 million to 8,405 million euros in 2026, while the brothers Francisco and Jon Riberas Mera lose one step and remain ninth with 6,845 million, despite managing the largest industrial conglomerate with Spanish capital and have increased your assets by 1,040 million euros in the last year. More millionaires and with more millions. Within this general upward trend, the list prepared by The World It highlights that 66 of the 100 fortunes grew at a double-digit rate during the last year. The result of this acceleration is that the number of billionaires in Spain It has gone from 59 to 76 families in a single year, almost double that of a decade ago. In the same way that the volume of each of the fortunes grows, the bar for entry to the list has also become more expensive, and for enter that Top 100 millionaires In Spain, the minimum assets rise to 765 million euros, compared to the 420 million that were needed ten years ago to belong to this select group. In fact, the segment that is growing the most is precisely that of fortunes between 2,000 and 5,000 million euros, followed by the range between 1,000 and 2,000 million. That is, the second and third tranches have pulled the rest upwards, while in the tranches between 750 and 1,000 million and less than 750 million, there are now fewer millionaires than in 2024. Amancio Ortega remains immovable on the throne. Having just turned 90, Amancio Ortega continues to be the undisputed number one on the list, and with a wide distance from the second largest fortune in the country. The assets of the founder of Inditex grew by 4.9% during the last year, a rate clearly lower than that of the rest of the list, which grew by an average of 20%, accumulating some 40,000 million more euros in a single year. However, this lower percentage growth does not imply that its financial movements have been wrongit has just had more financial movement than usual. The founder of Inditex has had a very active year in the real estate field and between 2025 and 2026 he has changed the entire structure of Pontegadea, placing Luxembourg as a base of operations from which it controls all its assets in Europe, the US, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Half or more of its real estate portfolio already passes through the Grand Duchy, where it shares a fiscal neighborhood with the Del Pino family, the Álvarez Santaló, Víctor Madera or Sol Daurella, with whom it also shares a presence on the list of the greatest fortunes in Spain. The most spectacular climbs and the newcomers. Among the most striking promotions of the year, Florentino Pérez stands out, whose fortune grew by 156% thanks to ACS’s stock market peak in recent months and the company’s awards in data center construction projects. In four years, the president of Real Madrid has multiplied his assets by four and is closer than ever to the top 10 on the list. Another meteoric rise has been that of Madrid-born David Ruiz de Andrés, whose fortune increased by 214% thanks to Grenergy, a company that is leading the construction of an 11,000 MW gigabattery. in the Atacama desert. The businessman in the energy sector went from having a net worth of 580 million euros in 2025, to adding more than 1,825 million, which represents a net worth increase of 214.66% in just 12 months. The Spain of the clans. … Read more

Inditex made Amancio Ortega a billionaire. Now he is also the richest real estate tycoon in the world

by

Amancio Ortega built the largest fashion group on the planet from scratch, became the largest fortune in Spain and the twelfth in the world. Now, he has just added a new record to his career: it is the largest real estate owner in the world thanks to Pontegadea’s investments. According to the calculations of Forbes, After analyzing corporate documents, property records and data from the Regrid and Real Capital Analytics platforms in nine countries, the real estate assets of Amancio Ortega It would be valued at 25 billion dollars, about 21.2 billion euros at the current exchange rate, spread across more than 200 properties in 13 countries. This figure exceeds that of the Australian promoter Harry Triguboff, with 23.2 billion dollars in assets and that of the American Donald Bren, with 19.2 billion, until now the great references in the sector. From hanger to brick. However, what is most surprising about this second empire that has been created is that Inditex and Pontegadea could not be more different, although both have a key point in common: the Inditex dividends. The original wine of Pontegadea emerged in 2001, when Inditex debuted on the stock market. Ortega then sold a 13.5% stake in the textile company for $1.1 billion and with that capital founded Pontegadea, his investment vehicle. From that moment, Amancio Ortega stopped being the beneficiary of the dividends generated by the textile giant and placed Pontegadea and Partler as his representatives and beneficiaries of its millionaire dividends. In 2026, the family office de Ortega will collect 3,234 million euros in dividends for Inditex’s results in 2025, a personal record figure. A portfolio of Premium buildings around the world. Pontegadea’s strategy is simple to explain, but almost impossible to replicate: buy the best buildings of the market, in strategic and irreplaceable locations in the main cities of the world, and find solvent tenants to sign long-term rentals with them, obtaining income from day one. His properties include iconic buildings such as the 43-story Picasso Tower in Madrid (which he bought for $540 million in 2011), the Devonshire House across from Green Park in London for which he paid $671 million in 2013, Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle, and in Canadaor the Royal Bank Plaza in Toronto, which is undoubtedly its crown jewel. In 2025 alone, Ortega closed 13 purchase operations in 10 cities in eight different countries, spending more than 3 billion dollars. Among its tenants we find names like Inditex itself, which rent the premises from its best stores, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Nike, Spotify, FedEx, Home Depot and Walmart, and even its biggest rival in textiles: Primark. Pontegadea has also diversified into logisticsluxury housing for rent and port infrastructure either energy networks. No debt, no rush and very few sellers. What differentiates Pontegadea from the rest of the large real estate investors is that Ortega’s investor seems to have unlimited funds, thanks to the billion-dollar dividends it receives each year from Inditex, and that it annually invests entirely in brick without incurring debt with its operations. A real estate agent who has worked with the firm told Forbes: “They buy collectible assets that are the best on the market. They are more like a art collector that looks for the most exclusive works of art.” Of their entire portfolio, according to the Real Capital Analytics database consulted by the American magazine, they have only sold 10 buildings in more than two decades. This also differentiates them from the rest of the real estate companies, which tend to get rid of their buildings after four or five years. More investment, less taxes. Behind the expansion of Pontegadea and its recent European structuring based in Luxembourg, There is also a very fine-tuned fiscal logic. In Spain, the wealth tax, to which the solidarity tax aimed at large fortunes was added in 2022, penalizes uninvested cash. Therefore, Ortega’s strategy is to keep 100% of the dividends he receives from Inditex invested in productive assets to increase their value and reduce the tax bill. According to Forbes, Ortega has saved about $800 million in wealth taxes since 2001 thanks to this constant reinvestment in real estate, infrastructure and energy with Pontegadea. Furthermore, by channeling the collection of Inditex dividends through Pontegadea and Partler, Ortega benefits from a tax exemption designed for business holdings. paying taxes at 1.25% instead of doing it for the 28% that applies to personal income tax. On the whole, Forbes It estimates that this mechanism has allowed it to save about $7 billion in taxes on these dividends in the last 25 years. In Xataka | Spain has more and more “billionaires” and a big shot who leaves their fortunes as anecdotes: Amancio Ortega Image | GTRES, Unsplash (Sergio Kian)

The richest people in the world in 2026, grouped in a single graph

by

If 2025 has left us anything, it has been a concentration of wealth in a few hands that had never been observed before. a report Oxfam Intemón estimates the growth of these great fortunes at 16% in 2025, this represents growth three times faster than the annual average of the last five years. The joint assets of the 20 largest fortunes in the world adds a total of 3.8 trillion dollarswhich represents a figure higher than GDP of most countries of the planet. That is, the fortune of the people who occupy the top 20 on the Forbes list would equal in wealth what countries like France (with a GDP of 3.36 trillion dollars and 68.6 million inhabitants), Italy (with 2.54 trillion dollars and 59 million inhabitants) produce in a year. To show the dimension of these fortunes in a more visual and easy to understand way, in Visual Capitalist have created a graph of the 20 richest people in the world of 2026 based on data extracted from the Forbes list of millionaires. The graph allows us to see a clear pattern: the AI is making gold to whoever touches it. The unbeatable Musk If there is something that stands out at first glance, it is the enormous wealth difference that separates the largest fortune in the world from the second. As of January 6, 2026, the date on which the “photo finish” was made to create this graph, Elon Musk’s estimated net worth was $714.2 billion. If we go back just five years ago, in 2020 the richest person was Jeff Bezos with a net worth of $145 billion. That is, the Musk’s current fortune is five times what it was in 2020 just five years ago the richest person in the world. That It’s not the only record that has marked Musk’s fortune in 2025. The businessman of South African origin has been the first person to have exceeded 700,000 million dollars, and is among the most likely candidates to become the first billionaire in history. Musk’s fortune in 2020 was “only” $24.6 billion, in a year in which the millionaire began to reap the benefits of the good sales results that the Tesla Model 3 were beginning to give, which had already surpassed your production problems. That represents a capital growth of 2,804% in just five years. Artificial intelligence: King Midas of the 21st century Five years ago, the “Top 10” of the largest fortunes was dominated by the founders of social networks, electronic commerce platforms and, among them, the undaunted Warren Buffett. On the other hand, today, the wealth of the world’s biggest millionaires is determined by their involvement in the development of AI. A good example is found in the leading role in that negotiation of the millionaires who occupy the first six positions. Leaving Musk aside, in second position is Larry Page, co-founder of Google and its parent company Alphabet, which thanks to the latest movements in the industry, have turned Gemini into the Apple native AI and in one of the models most influential in the industry. In 2025, Alphabet shares have appreciated by 63%which has had a favorable impact on the fortunes of the company’s founders. His partner, Sergei Brin, occupies fifth position, although in recent days he has climbed to third position. Given such a wealth boost, Jeff Bezos he had no choice He had to give up positions, leaving his 251.7 billion in third position in the ranking, although the recent boost in the fortune of Google’s founders has dragged him to fourth position, which to date was occupied by Larry Ellison, with an estimated fortune of 242.6 billion dollars. Ellison’s rise to the top of this list as one of the biggest fortunes of 2026 is another example of the level of enrichment and power that has provided AI to these millionaires. To put it in context, in just a few days, the founder of Oracle increased his fortune at 102 billion dollars. The arrival of AI caught Meta immersed in the metaverseand his latest decisions have not been the most applauded by investors. This has caused Mark Zuckerberg’s personal fortune to fall to $226.5 billion in 2026. However, if we look at it with perspective, the founder of Facebook had a net worth of $68.8 billion in 2020, so its increase has been 229% in just five years. Special mention in this section dedicated to AI goes to Jensen Huang, who occupies eighth position on the list of greatest fortunes thanks to the price of NVIDIA shares. However, Huang’s case is especially revealing of the link between AI and wealth growth of its main architects. In 2020, the CEO of NVIDIA declared $4.7 billion. In 2025, That fortune is estimated at 162.5 billion dollars. At the current value of his company, Huang stands to lose the equivalent of his fortune in 2020. in a single morning. There are millionaires beyond AI We have to reach seventh position on the list of the biggest fortunes in the world in 2026 to find the first millionaire who, at least a priori, is not involved with AI. This is Bernard Arnault, who since losing his throne as the richest person in the world in 2023 has lived a real roller coaster of rises and falls in the valuation of his fortune due to the crisis of LVMH’s luxury liquor and spirits divisions and the drop in sales in China of his Louis Vuitton flagship brand. In ninth position we find Warren Buffett, a veteran investor who has been able to read the markets to surf the wave of stock market swings to remain at the top of the list of the greatest fortunes in the world during the years. last 20 years. However, and to the envy of the S&P 500, the profitability of his fortune in the last five years has been 98.5%, going from $73.4 billion in 2020 to the $147.5 billion at which his current fortune … Read more

The founder of Ikea was one of the richest men on the planet, but his most famous trick is available to everyone

by

You may like it more or less Ikeabut I don’t think there are many doubts about the success that the company has had throughout its history. One figure was key in his rise. Its founder, Ingvar Kampradwas a different man of his time. The businessman died with billions of dollars in his account and, however, the key that led him to success and that he strictly followed throughout his life was very simple. Hint: never spend more than necessary. Ingvar Kamprad before Ikea. When you imagine the guy who built the Ikea empire, you may think of someone who lived a dream life that very few can achieve. However, if the company is what it is today, it is partly because Kamprad was the complete opposite of those stereotypes. Despite his wealth, he was known for your most frugal habits. Born in Sweden in 1926, his beginnings as a “businessman” began very early. At the age of five he sold matchesand at ten he dedicated himself to selling bikes, fish or even Christmas decorations to his neighbors. At the age of 17, he created Ikea with the money his father gave him for his good grades. Of course, I didn’t sell furniture then, just small utensils for the house. ELON MUSK VS JEFF BEZOS: STAR WARS Kamprad in 1965 Ikea is getting older. It happened in 1956, when Kamprad revolutionized the market and the furniture industry itself with the introduction of flat boxes with furniture to assemble at home. Yes, this began a way of selling the product that has continued to this day and that reduced the company’s costs in exchange for the consumer doing the other part of the work: assembling the furniture. The founder achieved such success that he became one of the richest men on the planet. In fact, when he died in 2018 he was eighth on the world list and had a estimated net worth of 58 billion of dollars. However, if you had met him in life, you would not have thought that you were dealing with a billionaire. Kamprad’s life hack. Talking about the secret of the success of a company like Ikea in an article is nothing short of an act of faith. Surely it is better understood in a book and in a more relaxed way, but we can understand some keys through the figure of its founder. And Kamprad insisted on one thing: saving, and he carried that maxim every day of his life. “Everything we earn we need as a reserve,” said. For example, the man was known for flying economy class, staying in budget hotels, or drive a Volvo 240 GL of 93 that lasted 20 years. In fact, he only gave it up when he was convinced it was dangerous. Kamprad said that he learned to be prudent with money in the small town in southern Sweden where he grew up: “it is in Smaland’s nature to be thrifty.” Example of this it happened in 2014when he returned to Sweden after 40 years of tax exile with clothes “bought only in flea markets.” The haircut anecdote. In 2008, The guardian told a scene which said a lot about the businessman’s personality. Apparently, after paying around 22 euros for a haircut in the Netherlands, he said the price was too high for his usual budget for haircuts, “I usually try to get a haircut when I’m in a developing country. The last time was in Vietnam,” he went on to say. The philosophy of life, to the company. These habits not only represented the beginning of Kamprad’s personal philosophy towards consumerism, but were also to serve as a model for his employees. He New York Times detailed that low-cost flights, meals and hotel stays were initiatives that he promoted among executives. In fact, in 1976 he distributed what was called “Testament of a furniture dealer“, a booklet with guidelines that Ikea employees have followed since then. In it, he details parts of his frugal philosophy, stating that “wasting resources is a mortal sin at Ikea.” His inheritance, his legacy. Decades before his death, Kamprad had placed ownership of the Ikea brand in a complex network of foundations and holding companies. However, these assets were not transmitted to his heirs. Apparently, the Stichting Ingka Foundation, a Dutch entity whose stated purpose is to donate to charities and “support innovation” in design, controls most of the Ikea stores. Additionally, the Interogo Foundation owns the rights to the brand and controls global franchises through a subsidiary. This foundation is managed by a board in which members of the Kamprad family have minority control. That is, the heirs retained some of the wealth and control, but the majority of their fortune is held in charitable trusts. A complicated structure as a result of his desire to preserve Ikea’s unique culture and ensure its long-term survival. Why Ikea. Before finishing this small collection of stories about the man who founded the most famous furniture company, a secret that many do not know. Why is it called Ikea? It is an acronym of the initials of Kamprad’s first and last name, and the initials of the name of the family farm where he was born (Elmtaryd) and the nearest village (Agunnaryd). Image | Ikea, Haparanda Midnight Ministerial, Public Domain In Xataka | The psychology behind IKEA selling you cheap food in its restaurant In Xataka | Online sales and manufactured in local carpentry shops: Slowdeco, the “Valencian Ikea” that does not even try to compete against Ikea

Marcus Licinius Crassus was the richest man in the Roman Empire thanks to an old business: real estate speculation

by

Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Ellison are the richest people in the world. Your personal assets It exceeds the annual GDP of many countries, which gives an idea of ​​the size of their wealth. However, that proportion of wealth is not exclusive to modern fortunes. Marcus Licinius Crassus was one of the richest men of the Roman Empire and his fortune was estimated to be equivalent to the entire annual budget of the Roman treasury. The most curious thing about the history of this Roman millionaire is that the way in which he amassed his fortune would not be out of place in Spain in the 20th or 21st century. Millionaire on father’s side The historian Plutarch was responsible for recording the life and work of Crassus in different chapters of ‘Parallel lives‘. Thanks to this work we know that Crassus amassed one of the most formidable fortunes in Ancient Rome. Marcus Licinius Crassus was born around the year 115 BC in Rome, into the Licinia gens, a family of plebeians with roots in the early days of the Roman Republic, so, although they did not enjoy a great fortune, let’s say that their economic situation was comfortable. His family had already held important consulates during the Republic, so they had a certain presence in Roman political life. His father, Publius Licinius Crassuswas consul in 97 BC, but during the civil war between the supporters of Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla (which took place between 88 and 82 BC), his father and brother were killed in those clashes, and the family lost their property. Bust of Marcus Licinius Crassus After the death of his family, Crassus inherited a small fortune, but had to flee to Hispania, where he hid for months. Later, he joined the side of the general and dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla, a Roman general and dictator who defeated his rival Gaius Marius and ruled Rome from around 82 BC. Sulla supervised the entry of Marcus Crassus into the Senate and thus opened a way for Crassus to start building your wealth from a position of power and began to be known as Dives“the rich one.” According to his biographer Plutarch, Crassus began his political career with a fortune of 300 talents. According to the inventory of his fortune on the eve of his last campaign, his fortune reached 7,100 talents. Real estate speculation is not a modern invention The basis of Crassus’s extraordinary wealth was the massive purchase of property confiscated from political enemies during Sulla’s rule. When Lucius Cornelius Sulla took control of Rome, those who opposed him lost their properties, and these were sold at very low prices. Crassus bought almost all of them for prices well below the market price. In Rome it was common for the insulaebuildings built of wood and cement crowded together on several floors, they would burn to make fire inside, and it would jump from building to building burning entire neighborhoods. Remains of a Roman insulae As his fortune grew, Marcus Crassus bought more and more slaves that he would use to make his fortune grow even more, forming a small army of more than 500 highly qualified slaves such as architects, bricklayers, carpenters, etc. The Roman millionaire, aware that the fires of the insulae They used to extend to several buildings, he created a brigade of slaves who acted as firefighters and, it was rumored, also arsonists. As and how did he count The CountryCrassus arrived at the fires and offered the owners of the burning buildings and their neighbors ridiculous amounts of money for the property. Faced with the imminence of being left with nothing left over from the flames or having it collapse, they could at least recover part of their investment, so many accepted the sale. Only at that moment, his army of slaves went into action and put out the fire. Afterwards, the rest of the slave architects and builders restored the building, and then resold it, making an enormous profit from its sale because, after all, slave labor was free. As and how do they count In National Geographic, his slaves were even more valuable than the silver mines and land he also owned. According to Plutarch’s story, this strategy helped the skillful negotiator Crassus to gain a good part of the insulae from Rome. Plutarch said that Crassus always built for speculation, never for his own enjoyment. Crassus’ excessive ambition led him to negotiate with Julius Caesar and Pompey the creation of the First Triumvirate, although in reality Crassus’ aspirations were more about obtaining the granting of public contracts and perks for his businesses than the good government of Rome. In fact, hated Pompey. His downfall: exchanging ambition for envy However, as his fortune and political position increased, Crassus yearned for more than wealth. He sought military glory. In 72 BC he received command to end the slave rebellion led by Spartacuswhich had the support of an army made up of between 70,000 and 120,000 slaves who rose up. Marcus Crassus managed to defeat a large part of the rebels and crucified 6,000 slaves along 200 km of the Appian Way as punishment and warning to the rest of the rebels. However, many of them managed to escape, and it was his hated political partner Pompey who managed to hunt them down, putting an end to all the work that Crassus had done. By giving the final blow to the revolt, Pompey took all the credit for the victory, being received in Rome with all the honors of the laurel crown, while Crassus had to settle for a discreet owatta minor recognition. Orodes II, king of the Parthians Crassus did not give up in his attempt to demonstrate his superiority against Pompey and tried to expand his conquests and fortune by facing Pompey. to births in Syriabut his defeat in the Battle of Carras (53 BC) was catastrophic on a strategic level. There he died along with … Read more

If the question is what salary the richest man in the world could have, Tesla has given an answer: 1 billion dollars

by

After the judicial battle that ended with the salary bonus block of 50,000 million that Tesla had to pay Elon Musk, the electric car manufacturer has launched an order to its shareholders with a New salary proposal For its CEO: a bill bonus (European billion) if you get the company out of the crisis in which it is mired. The potential value of the salary package that Tesla has presented Before the Bag and Securities Commission, it could raise the fortune of Musk, which is currently estimated at about 435.4 billion dollars, until it became The first billionaire in history If you manage to meet all the required conditions. The salary package conditions. He New salary plan That Tesla has proposed to Elon Musk does not consist of a traditional salary or cash bonuses: the entire figure depends on the flexible delivery of actions throughout the next decade, provided that it meets certain very demanding milestones, such as reaching Total sales of 20 million additional cars. All in the context of a company plunged into A sales crisis global. The shares will be delivered by sections, instead of the end of the period as it happened with its 2018 bonus, and only if Tesla manages to multiply its stock market value until it reaches at least one capitalization of 8.5 billion dollars, starting from the billion that is currently worth in the stock market. To put this figure in context, Nvidia is technological more powerful of the momentand its capitalization is 4.05 billion dollars. It’s not just money: it’s also power in Tesla. In addition, the plan could meet the historical demand of its CEO to have More power within the company. Currently, Musk control around 12% of the actions of Tesla. However, with the new salary bonus its participation in Tesla would increase to 29%. Increase your participation to that percentage would allow Musk increase your influence direct about the company. In this way, it would have enough weight to block important decisions that would not have their approval and further reinforce their position as an essential leader. In one recent interview For the CNBC, Robyn Denholm, president of the Tesla Board of Directors, made it clear to investors to “retain and encourage Elon is essential for Tesla to become the most valuable company in history.” Without a doubt, a salary package of such a draft should be enough to motivate the richest man in the world. Termination clause and a commitment to the future. Such and as they break down in Bloomberganother of the conditions of the new salary package announced by Tesla, it is established that MUSK must remain as CEO of Tesla During, at least, the next ten years to be able to opt for the entire compensation, with a minimum of seven and a half years to unlock the first section of the remuneration. “If it yields, if it reaches the ambitious objectives of the plan, it will receive a participation: 1% for each half billion dollars of stock market capitalization, plus the operational milestones it must achieve to achieve it,” Denholm explained. On the other hand, among the operational challenges that the commercial deployment of one million is found during that time of autonomous robotaxis and of the Optimus robots with integrated Grok, multiplying by 24 the current benefits of the company. Investors will have to vote. After registering the proposal to the regulatory body of the stock market, the next step in its process is to submit the salary bonus to the vote of investors. Something that is still more than A mere formal procedure since the previous 2018 salary package was also voted on a shareholders’ meeting, and finally It was canceled by a court of Delaware for the complaint of one of the shareholders. In Xataka | The shocking thing is not that Elon Musk has lost 80,000 million dollars in 2025: others have earned 102.00 million Image | Tesla, dvids (Trevor Cokley)

The “richest treasure in America” ​​is not a pyramid, but the imposing collection of a Mixteca princess of 800 years ago

by

Mexico is an inexhaustible source of pre -Hispanic treasures findings. We continue discovering vestiges of the past practically every week and it is something that He has shot with the Mayan train project and with the latest technology tools. Thanks to the latter, we have been able to find hidden pyramids, Underground areas And it is something that can give a push in the Study of old structures. However, there are pieces that, although we discover a few years ago, are still of great value. An example is the treasure of the tomb 7 of Monte Albán, which some continue to consider “the richest treasure in America.” Not only are hundred pieces, but they have a really enviable state of conservation. The Mixteca Treasure of Tomb 7 In January 1932, Dr. Alfonso Caso discovered at the archaeological site of Tomb 7 of Monte Albán one of the biggest pre -Hispanic treasures in history. At the time of its finding, a first restoration was carried out, but care was also carried out both in 1944 and a few years ago, with the objective not only of studying the pieces, but of restoring those that were precise and carrying out an adequate conservation process. In total, it is a set of more than 230 pieces made with sacred materials in the pre -Hispanic era, such as gold, silver, rock glass and precious stones such as turquoise, obsidian and green stone. The state of conservation of many of these objects is imposing. There are also less striking objects such as those made from bone or an alabaster pot. But … Where do these luxury objects come from? INAH researchers They offered context to the pieces, affirming that their origins date from the union of a lord of the dynasty of Zaachila and a Mixtec lady at some point between the 1,200 and 1,400 after Christ. Skull decorated with turquoise mosaics and shells Rock glass glass Locked bone with turquoise embedding Specifically, from the National Institute of Anthropology and History they comment that it was a union between “Mr. 5 Flor, of the Zaachila dynasty, with the princess of the Mixteco kingdom of Teoxacualco, Mrs. 4 Rabbit ‘Quetzal’”. The princess would have used the tomb 7 as a sanctuary to deposit the Tnaniwrappers in which the relics of the ancestors such as effigies of great value and other luxurious objects were kept. And, judging by the photos of the articles, the princess’s treasure was not small, precisely. Now, when these articles were found, they did not look as well as in the photographs that accompany these lines. According to INAH, it was necessary and meticulous restoration process so that we can admire the details of each of these pieces. Mask that represents the god Xipe Totec made in molten and soldier gold A pot with support manufactured in alabaster Bezote that represents the head of a jade stone foisan. The posterior plug is gold sheet This includes the recovery of the properties of its color, the polished finish of some objects and the reflective power of others. In whatever it may be, work was worth work, since the collection has an imposing presence and, beyond the photographs that INAH himself Share On its website (where we can see descriptions of each object), you can see live in room III of the Museum of Cultures of Oaxaca. And, in addition to admiring the goldsmithing of each piece, it is interesting to note that this treasure is important because it demonstrates not only how certain materials already worked on what they gave importance, but some of them were achieved thanks to the exchange and trade networks between different Mesoamerican sites. This is something extremely significant that, little by little, we are knowing and that tells us about the cultural wealth of some sites. A recent example is the study of Channels from Mexico City That, precisely, it was an imposing cultural center thanks to those commercial activities. Images | INAH In Xataka | The Maya played football. And now we know that under the courts they buried a hallucinogenic surprise *An earlier version of this article was published in August 2024

will soon be the richest generation in history

by

Although now many young people are fighting an uncertain labor market, a unsustainable real estate situation And basic expenses that do not stop growing, in just a decade they could be in charge of the world economy thanks to a phenomenon known as the “Great wealth transfer“. His way of seeing life Everything will change. A meteoric rise in ten years is expected. A recent report Bank of America analyzes what holds a Z generation that currently appears with its negative financial balance with a growing Housing Resource Expenditure either educationin contrast to Low wages common at the beginning of professional careers. According to the report data, the global set of this generation already control about 9 billion dollars In income in just two years, coinciding with the arrival at the labor market of this generation. However, the bank expects this figure to shoot up to 36 billion dollars by 2030 and reach 74 billion dollars in 2040 in what is already known as the “great transfer of wealth.” A few complicated first years. The report indicates that the generation will experience first years in the very complicated labor market. Many young people, just out of college, meet a labor market and dynamics that do not understanddespite be overcowed For available jobs. The INCAUDS OF THE IA In the workplace he will not pave on his way during the first years. The Bank of America report highlights that this generation must face a cooling scenario in job offers. However, according to The published by 3DJUGOSgene generation already needs 146% of SMI to survivetripling what Baby Boomers needed to meet their basic needs, and double the expenditure of generation X and Millennials. The generational relay of money. Despite these aciagos beginnings, the data of one of the world’s largest banking entities suggest that generation Z will experience exponential growth that will make them The richest generation and numerous world in 2035. For that year, the GenzersThey will represent 30% of the world population. This “great transfer of wealth” is a massive capital change from major generations to the gene z, marking a before and after in the global economic distribution. Bank of America estimates coincide with those that already made in your report The consultant Cerulli Associates. This 2022 report already estimated a transfer of assets of the Boomers to Millennials and Z generation of about 84 billion dollars by 2045. It is estimated that around 38% of generation Z in the United States hopes to receive an inheritance, which will further drive their economic power, according to reveals A study of the insurer Northwestern Mutual. They are not accustomed to savings. In the same way that generation Z has marked important changes in Its incorporation into the labor marketthey will also impose their criteria in the way in which the heritage that will be transferred are spent and invest. In a scenario such as the one that is currently living in today, savings do not even consider as an option, so it is expected that the expense trend will increase with respect to other demographic groups such as that of Boomersmarked by His tendency to savings. Brands rub their hands. The US banking entity expects the global spending of generation Z to reach 12.6 billion dollars in 2030, compared to the 2.7 billion dollars that spent in 2024. “It is likely that they are among the most disruptive generations for economies, markets and social systems. Either due to changes in diet, Reduction of alcohol consumption, Savings and housing, generation Z will redefine what it means to be a consumer, “says the authors of the Bank of America report. In Xataka | 26% of the Z genes with their parents to work interviews. 8% of those parents intervene in them In Xataka | “Quiet ambition”: generation Z has redefined job success and no longer wants ascents if your mental health is at stake Image | Unspash (Alexander Gray)

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.