Bruno Ewald Steinhoff (born November 1937) is a German

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

businessman, the founder of

Steinhoff International Steinhoff International is a multinational holding company that is dual listed in Germany and South Africa. Its holdings are in the retail sector, primarily in furniture and household goods, and include a controlling stake in South Africa's P ...

, a South African-based international retail

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

, and its executive chairman until September 2008. He is now a non-executive director, and a member of the supervisory board.

Early life

Bruno Steinhoff was born in November 1937.

Career

Steinhoff started his career in furniture in 1964 in

Westerstede Westerstede (; Low German: ''Westerstäe'') is the capital of the Ammerland district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 25 km northwest of Oldenburg. It is known for hosting the Rhodo Festival, the biggest exhibition of ...

, Germany. He started by sourcing furniture from Eastern Europe and selling it in Western Europe, and began manufacturing in 1989. Steinhoff International is Europe's second largest furniture retailer, after

Ikea IKEA (; ) is a Dutch multinational conglomerate based in the Netherlands that designs and sells , kitchen appliances, decoration, home accessories, and various other goods and home services. Started in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA has been t ...

Personal life

Steinhoff lives in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

, South Africa. His daughter

Angela Krüger-Steinhoff Angela may refer to: Places * Angela, Montana * Angela Lake, in Volusia County, Florida * Lake Angela, in Lyon Township, Oakland County, Michigan * Lake Angela, the reservoir impounded by the source dam of the South Yuba River Fiction * Angel ...

is a member of the supervisory board of Steinhoff International.

References

1937 births Living people German expatriates in South Africa German company founders 20th-century German businesspeople German billionaires South African billionaires {{SouthAfrica-bio-stub