Markus Christoph Blocher (born April 16, 1971) is a Swiss businessman and billionaire. He is the only son of former Federal Councilor

Christoph Blocher Christoph Wolfram Blocher (; born 11 October 1940) is a Swiss industrialist and politician who served as a List of members of the Swiss Federal Council, Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2004 to 2007. A member of the Swiss People's Party ( ...

(born 1940) and younger brother of National Councilor Magdalena Martullo-Blocher (born 1969). Blocher is among the richest Swiss with an estimated net worth of $3.4 billion by ''

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 ...

''. Blocher holds a controlling stake in

EMS-Chemie Ems-Chemie is a Swiss corporate group based in Domat/Ems, in the canton of Graubünden, whose companies are grouped under "Ems-Chemie Holding". This is the only listed company belonging to the scope of consolidation and is listed on the SIX Swi ...

and Dottikon ES, both chemical companies based in Switzerland.

Early life and education

Blocher was born April 16, 1971, in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, Switzerland to

Christoph Christoph is a male given name and surname. It is a German variant of Christopher. Notable people with the given name Christoph * Christoph Bach (1613–1661), German musician * Christoph Büchel (born 1966), Swiss artist * Christoph Dientzen ...

and Silvia (née Kaiser) Blocher. His godmother is Rosmarie Ebner, the wife of the Swiss financier

Martin Ebner Martin Ebner (born 12 August 1945) is a Swiss billionaire businessman and investor from the municipality of Freienbach in the canton of Schwyz. He is the founder of BZ Bank, and the investment firm, BZ Group. Through his investment vehicle Patin ...

. His elder sister is now the CEO of

and a member of the National Council for the

Swiss People's Party The Swiss People's Party (, SVP; , PPS), also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre (, UDC; , UDC), is a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Marcel Dettling, it is the largest party in ...

. He primarily grew up in

Feldmeilen Feldmeilen is a village (''Wacht'') within the municipality of Meilen in the Canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Geography Feldmeilen is located in the district of Meilen in the Pfannenstiel region on the northwestern shore of the Zürichsee (La ...

Lake Zurich Lake Zurich (, ; ) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zurich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or can be used to describe the lake as a whole, or just that part of the lake downstream of the Hurden peninsula and ...

. He completed a student exchange in the United States and had the desire to join the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

in his teens. In 2000, he completed his doctorate at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH).

Career

After graduation he worked for three years as a consultant for

McKinsey & Company McKinsey & Company (informally McKinsey or McK) is an American multinational strategy and management consulting firm that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. Founded in 1926 by James O. McKinse ...

. Since 2002, he worked as Vice President of Special Projects at

Domat/Ems Domat/Ems ( ; ) is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Imboden Region in the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Graubünden. History Domat/Ems is first mentioned in 765 as ''colonia de Amede''. Ems is the Ger ...

. In 2003, he was appointed managing director of Dottikon ES, which at that time still was part of EMS Group. Blocher was responsible for listing the company at the stock exchange in 2005. In November of the same year he exchanged his controlling shares of EMS with his sisters of Dottikon, and became majority owner. Until this day he acts as CEO and chairman of the board. In 2020, he was awarded the title 'Swiss CEO of the year' in the Obermatt ranking.

Personal life

He is married and has seven children. Blocher resides in

Wollerau Wollerau is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in Höfe District in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. It lies on the upper Zürichsee. Geography Wollerau has an area, , of . Of this area, 56.9% is used for agricultural purposes, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blocher, Markus Christoph 1971 births Swiss billionaires Businesspeople from Zurich McKinsey & Company people Living people ETH Zurich alumni

Early life and education

Career

Personal life

See also

References