Juan Roig Alfonso (; born 8 October 1949) is a Spanish

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, president of the Spanish supermarket chain

Mercadona Mercadona (, ) is a Spanish supermarket chain, with 1,618 stores across Spain and 61 in Portugal (as of 04/2025). The company was founded by Francisco Roig Ballester and his wife, Trinidad Alfonso Mocholi in 1977. Mercadona began as a small but ...

and

Valencia Basket Valencia Basket Club Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., commonly known as Valencia Basket (), is a professional basketball team based in Valencia, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the EuroCup Basketball, EuroCup, and his Valencia Basket ...

. As of November 2024, his net worth was estimated at US$6 billion.

Early life

Juan Roig was born on 8 October 1949 in

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

. He studied in a Jesuit school in Valencia, then at a boarding school, and graduated in economics at Valencia, but was not an outstanding student. Eight years after graduating, he studied a postgraduate at

IESE Business School IESE Business School is the Catholic Church, Catholic graduate business school of the University of Navarra. It was established in Barcelona in 1958 by Opus Dei. From 1963, in collaboration with Harvard Business School, it offers a two-year Maste ...

University of Navarra The University of Navarra is a private Catholic research university located on the southeast border of Pamplona, Navarre, Spain. It was founded in 1952 by Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, the founder of '' Opus Dei'', as a corporat ...

. His parents ran a chain of eight butchers' shops (''Cárnicas Roig'') in La Pobla de Farnals, later converted to grocery stores.

Business career

With three of his five brothers, Juan Roig bought the shops from his parents in 1981. He largely bought out his brothers in 1991, and went on to build up the Mercadona supermarket chain, which now runs over 1,400 stores. His success in retail has been based on a risky strategy of competitive pricing, and on technological innovations such as

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scanners and automated distribution facilities. He introduced full-time contracts for all employees in the late 1990s. Roig was awarded the Prince Felipe Prize for Business Excellence in 2010.

Personal wealth

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' magazine in October 2013 reported that Roig was worth 5.8 billion

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s, the second largest fortune in Spain. This in fact is the estimated value of the 78% stake in Mercadona jointly owned by himself and his wife. But since Mercadona shares are not publicly quoted, the figure is somewhat speculative. As of July 2018, ''Forbes'' estimated his net worth at US$4.3 billion. The shareholding yielded

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income totalling over $400 million between 2006 and 2013 for Roig and his wife jointly. In August 2022, Roig's net worth was estimated to be around US$3.5 billion (according to Forbes).

Personal life

At university he met Hortensia Herrero, and they married in 1973. They have four children, and live in Valencia, Spain. His wife is now vice-president of Mercadona. He is said to favour family ownership in business, provided that the family members contribute positively. He has been described as "shy, but a tough businessman" and as "a practical man, direct, austere, takes things seriously, his manner may appear cold if he does not trust the person he is talking to". Many aphorisms are ascribed to him, such as "in Spain we have to imitate the hard-working culture of the Chinese bazaars" and "you do not have to do a job that you like, but you have to make your job something you like doing".

Philanthropy

Through his wholly owned company Alquería Capital, Roig supports ''Proyecto Lanzadera'', which helps young entrepreneurs set up their businesses and offers them space within the Lanzadera Business Centre, in Valencia. He also sponsors a professional basketball team, called

Early life

Business career

Personal wealth

Personal life

Philanthropy

References

Further reading