Ludwig Kurt Merckle (born 1965) is a German businessman. He is CEO of Merckle Service GmbH. His father was Adolf Merckle, founder of the Merckle group. Ludwig Kurt Merckle earned a degree in business information technology (Diplom-Wirtschaftsinformatiker) from the

University of Mannheim The University of Mannheim (German: ''Universität Mannheim''), abbreviated UMA, is a public university, public research university in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1967, the university has its origins in the ''Palatine Aca ...

. Merckle started his career as a strategic consultant at

Roland Berger Roland Berger (born 22 November 1937) is a German entrepreneur, consultant and philanthropist. Life Roland Berger was born in Berlin in 1937 as Robert Altmann; his family name changed later, after his father, Georg L. Berger, married his moth ...

in 1993. In 1995, he joined his family's business as an assistant manager. In 1997, he was promoted to CEO of Merckle GmbH, parent company of Ratiopharm GmbH. In 2005, he was appointed CEO of VEM Vermögensverwaltung GmbH, and in 2009, CEO of Merckle Service GmbH, after his father committed suicide and left the family group in debt. In March 2010, the generic drugmaking arm of Merckle, Ratiopharm, was sold to

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (also known as Teva Pharmaceuticals) is an Israeli multinational pharmaceutical company. Teva specializes primarily in generic drugs, but other business interests include branded-drugs, active pharmaceutical ...

for €3.6 billion, 55% of

HeidelbergCement Heidelberg Materials is a German multinational building materials company headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany. Formerly known as HeidelbergCement AG, the company has rebranded as Heidelberg Materials in September 2022. It is a DAX corporation ...

for €2.5 billion, and other assets to clear their debts. According to ''

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 ...

'', Merckle had a net worth of $13.1

billion Billion is a word for a large number, and it has two distinct definitions: * 1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale. This is now the most common sense of the word in all varieties of ...

, as of April 2025. Merckle is married to Ursula; they have two children and live in

Ulm Ulm () is the sixth-largest city of the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with around 129,000 inhabitants, it is Germany's 60th-largest city. Ulm is located on the eastern edges of the Swabian Jura mountain range, on the up ...

References

Businesspeople from Bavaria German billionaires People from Ulm 1965 births Living people German businesspeople in the healthcare industry 20th-century German businesspeople 21st-century German businesspeople {{Germany-business-bio-stub