Karl Hans Albrecht (; 20 February 1920 – 16 July 2014) was a German entrepreneur who founded the discount

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

chain

Aldi Aldi (German pronunciation: ), stylised as ALDI, is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 12,000 stores in 18 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and ...

with his brother

Theo Theo is a given name and a hypocorism. Greek origin Many names beginning with the root ''Theo-'' derive from the Ancient Greek word (), which means God, for example: *Feminine names: Thea, Theodora, Theodosia, Theophania, Theophano and The ...

. He was the richest person in Germany for many years. In February 2014, he was ranked the 21st-richest person in the world by

Hurun Report Hurun () is a town in Jingxi, Guangxi, China. See also *List of township-level divisions of Guangxi This is a list of township-level divisions of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China (PRC). After province, prefectur ...

Biography

Karl and Theo Albrecht were born and raised in a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

family in modest circumstances in

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

, Germany. Their father, Karl Sr., worked as a miner and later as a baker's assistant, while their mother Anna (née Siepmann) ran a small grocery store in the workers' quarter of , a suburb of Essen. Theo completed an

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...

in his mother's store, while Karl worked in a

delicatessen A delicatessen or deli is a grocery that sells a selection of fine, exotic, or foreign prepared foods. Delicatessens originated in Germany (contemporary spelling: ) during the 18th century and spread to the United States in the mid-19th centur ...

shop. Karl served in the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and was wounded on the Eastern Front. After the war, the brothers jointly took over their mother's business and founded Albrecht KG. In 1960, the brothers faced a disagreement over whether to stock cigarettes in their stores. While Theo advocated for selling cigarettes, Karl expressed concerns that they would attract shoplifters. As a result, they decided to divide their stores into two parts: Theo retained all stores north of the

Ruhr The Ruhr ( ; , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr Area, sometimes Ruhr District, Ruhr Region, or Ruhr Valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 1,160/km2 and a populati ...

, while Karl retained those south of the Ruhr. This division led to the opening of the first Aldi (short for Albrecht Discount) in 1962, and the two groups became known as Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd, respectively. Aldi world map

In 1994, Karl Albrecht removed himself from the daily operations of Aldi Süd and took the position of

chairman of the board The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a Board of directors, board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by ...

until 2002. At the beginning of 2002, he also relinquished this position, thereby completely ceding control of the firm. As of 2010s, the business is no longer run by any of Karl Albrecht's family members.

Personal life

Karl Albrecht was a very reclusive man who had not taken part in public life for several years prior to his death. As a result, little is known about him. ''

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 reported that he had two children, neither of whom was employed by Aldi. He reportedly lived in Essen, as did his brother Theo until the latter's death. Golf was one of his hobbies, and Albrecht played the sport on his own

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...

, the Öschberghof, which he built in 1976. He also raised

orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Earth ...

Fortune

In 2014, Albrecht was listed as one of the richest people in the world with an estimated

net worth Net worth is the value of all the non-financial and financial assets owned by an individual or institution minus the value of all its outstanding liabilities. Financial assets minus outstanding liabilities equal net financial assets, so net w ...

of . ''Forbes'' magazine listed him as the third richest man in the world in 2004. In 2012, with an estimated net worth in 2011 of , the magazine ranked him tenth on its

list of billionaires ''The World's Billionaires'' is an annual ranking of people who are billionaires, i.e., they are considered to have a net worth of US$1 billion or more, by the American business magazine ''Forbes''. The list was first published in March 1987. ...

– making him the oldest billionaire in the Top 20 list. Upon his death, Albrecht was named the richest person in Germany, and the fourth-richest in Europe.

References

External links

''Forbes'' topic page on Karl Albrecht

in

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

by Marcus Williamson {{DEFAULTSORT:Albrecht, Karl 1920 births 2014 deaths German Army soldiers of World War II German businesspeople in retailing German billionaires German company founders 20th-century German businesspeople Businesspeople from Essen People from the Rhine Province German Roman Catholics Aldi people Albrecht family (business)