Guido Barilla (born 30 July 1958) is an Italian

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least 1,000,000,000, one billion units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. It is a sub-category of the concept of the ultr ...

businessman, and the chairman of

Barilla Group Barilla is an Italian multinational food company founded in 1877. It is the world's largest pasta producer. The company uses the slogan ''Noi la pasta, tu la fantasia'' ("We have the pasta, you have the imagination"). History The company wa ...

, the world's largest pasta company, which is 85% owned by Guido, his sister and two of his brothers.

Early life

Guido Barilla was born on 30 July 1958 in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, Italy. He studied in the United States and in Italy, where he studied Philosophy at the Università Statale di Milano.

Career

He started his career in 1982 in the sales department of Barilla France. In 1986, he became a senior manager and led the international expansion of the company. In 1988, he became Barilla deputy chairman, and since October 1993 has been the chairman. Since 2009, he has been chairman of the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition, now Fondazione Barilla. In a 2013 radio interview, Barilla stated his opposition to adoptions by same-sex couples and said that he "disagrees" with homosexuals. The comments were viewed as homophobic, and, although Barilla apologized for "having offended the sensibilities of many", critics like

Alessandro Zan Alessandro Zan (born 4 October 1973 in Padua) is an Italian left-wing politician and LGBT activist. Biography Zan is a leading member of the Italian gay organisation Arcigay. Since 2013 he has been a member of Italian Chamber of Deputies. B ...

felt the apology was insufficient and encouraged a boycott of Barilla's company. The negative reaction led to changes, and a year later, the company received a top rating from the

Human Rights Campaign The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for L ...

's list of employers who are LGBT-friendly.

Parma Calcio 1913

In 2015, Barilla became a part owner of the Phoenix club

Parma Calcio 1913 Parma Calcio 1913 () is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, which competes in the Serie A, the top tier of Italian football league system, Italian league sy ...

Honours

In May 2019, he was awarded the title Knight of the

Order of Merit for Labour The Order of Merit for Labour () is an Italian order of chivalry that was founded in 1923 by King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele III. It is awarded to those "who have been singularly meritorious" in agriculture, industry and co ...

Other activities

Danone Danone S.A. () is a French multinational corporation, multinational food-products corporation based in Paris. It was founded in 1919 in Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. It is listed on Euronext Paris, where it is a component of the CAC 40 stock mark ...

, Member of the Mission Committee (since 2020) *

European Round Table of Industrialists The European Round Table for Industry (previously known as the European Round Table of Industrialists), abbreviated ERT, is a cross-sectoral forum and advocacy group in the European Union consisting of some 60 European industrial businesspeople wo ...

(ERT), MemberMembers

Personal life

Barilla is married, with five children, and lives in

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

, Italy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barilla, Guido 1958 births

Guido Guido is a given name. It has been a male first name in Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Argentina, the Low Countries, Scandinavia, Spain, Portugal and Latin America, as well as other places with migration from those. Regarding origins, there ...

Italian billionaires Businesspeople from Milan Living people Businesspeople from Parma