Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Schaeffler (born 19 October 1964) is a German

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least 1,000,000,000, 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 ...

businessman and owner of 80% of the holding company INA Holding Schaeffler GmbH & Co. KG, which includes Schaeffler AG. His mother,

Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler (born 17 August 1941) is a German businesswoman and one of the owners of Schaeffler Group, one of and the world's largest producers of rolling bearings. The other owner is her son Georg F. W. Schaeffler. Early li ...

, owns the other 20%. Both inherited their fortune from Schaeffler's father, Georg Schaeffler, who died in 1996. Schaeffler is the head of the supervisory board of Schaeffler Group and a member of the supervisory board of

Continental AG Continental AG, commonly known as Continental or colloquially as Conti, is a German multinational automotive parts manufacturing company specializing in tires, brake systems, interior electronics, automotive safety, powertrain and chassis com ...

. As of March 2020, Schaeffler was ranked by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' as the 96th-richest person in the world, with a net worth of $11.2 billion.

Early life

Schaeffler was born in

Erlangen Erlangen (; East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 116,062 inhabi ...

. From 1986 to 1990, Schaeffler studied business and economics at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and worked within the

Schaeffler Group Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG, also known as Schaeffler Group (''Schaeffler-Gruppe'' in German), is a German manufacturer of rolling element bearings for automotive, aerospace and industrial uses. It was founded in 1946 by brothers Dr. ...

from 1990 to 1996. He later went on to receive a law degree and a masters from Duke University and practised international business law in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...

. He served two years in the

German armed forces The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

, reaching the rank of lieutenant in the

air force reserves The Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) is a major command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force, with its headquarters at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. It is the federal Air Reserve Component (ARC) of the U.S. Air Force, consisting of commiss ...

Career

Schaeffler has expanded the company over the years. In 1999, he took over the German automotive manufacturer LuK GmbH, and in 2002, the German producer of ball bearings FAG Kugelfischer. After the expense of $15 billion, in 2008 Georg and the newly founded

, acquired auto parts giant and one of the largest tire manufacturers in the world,

. The

employs over 80,000 people in 170 locations in 49 different countries. According to

ProPublica ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit organization based in New York City. In 2010, it became the first online news source to win a Pulitzer Prize, for a piece written by one of its journalists''The Guardian'', April 13, 2010 ...

, the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) "...embarked on a contentious audit of Schaeffler in 2012, eventually determining that he owed about $1.2 billion in unpaid taxes and penalties. But after seven years of grinding bureaucratic combat, the IRS abandoned its campaign", and accepted "tens of millions".

Wealth

According to ''

'', Schaeffler has a net worth of US$20.1 billion. In March 2020, Schaeffler was ranked #96 on Forbes' list of global billionaires and #4 for Germany. He and his mother's (

) combined wealth is estimated to be US$34 billion.

Other activities

Commerzbank Commerzbank AG () is a major German bank operating as a universal bank, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. In the 2019 financial year, the bank was the second largest in Germany by the total value of its balance sheet. Founded in 1870 in Hambu ...

, Member of the Central Advisory Board

Personal life

He is divorced with four children and lives in

Herzogenaurach Herzogenaurach (; vmf, Herziaura) is a town in the district of Erlangen-Höchstadt, in Bavaria, Germany. It is best known for being the home of the major international sporting goods companies Adidas and Puma, as well as the large car parts m ...

. He visits the United States several times a year.Unter uns – Deutschlands reichsten Mann
''

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of SZ is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and social-democrat. Histo ...

'' Online, 5 March 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schaeffler, Georg Businesspeople from Bavaria German billionaires Living people University of St. Gallen alumni 1964 births People from Erlangen 20th-century German businesspeople 21st-century German businesspeople