Stefan Quandt
Quandt in 2015
Born (1966-05-09) 9 May 1966
Bad Homburg, West Germany
EducationKarlsruhe Institute of Technology
OccupationBusinessman
Spouse
Katharina Quandt
​
(m. 2005)​
Children1
Parent(s)Herbert Quandt
Johanna Quandt
RelativesSusanne Klatten (sister)

Stefan Quandt (born 9 May 1966) is a German billionaire heir, engineer and industrialist. As of October 2021, his net worth is estimated at US$23.2 billion[1] and ranked at number 89 on Bloomberg Billionaires Index.[2]

Early life

Quandt was born in Bad Homburg to Herbert Quandt, a german industrialist and prominent Nazi,[3] and Johanna Quandt. He earned a degree from the University of Karlsruhe where he studied economics and engineering,[1] from 1987 to 1993.

Career

From 1993–1994, Quandt worked for the Boston Consulting Group in Munich. From 1994 to 1996 he worked for Datacard Group of Minneapolis as a marketing manager in Hong Kong.

BMW

On his father's death in 1982 Quandt inherited 17.4% of BMW,[4] the company his father had saved from bankruptcy in 1959. From further purchases he later owned 23.7% of the company.[1] Following his mother’s death in 2015, Quandt’s voting stake in BMW temporarily increased to 34.19 percent, above a 30 percent threshold which triggered a compulsory takeover offer under German rules.[5] He subsequently asked the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) to be excused from these rules.[6]

In 2018, Quandt became BMW’s largest single shareholder when his direct ownership increased with shares inherited from his mother, giving him a so-called “blocking stake” of 25.83 percent, worth 13.4 billion euros ($16.6 billion).[7] He currently serves BMW as a deputy chairman of the supervisory board.[8]

Delton

Quandt also inherited from his father substantial holdings in other companies, many of which he has been running through his holding company, Delton AG, since 1989. These include:

  • 76.8% of CEAG, (small power supplies and recharging devices for mobile phones)
  • 87.6% of Logwin AG (formerly Thiel Logistik, a logistics and freight forwarding company)[9]
  • 100% of Biologische Heilmittel Heel GmbH, which makes homeopathic preparations[10]
  • 100% of CeDo Household Products, which makes freezer bags, plastic and aluminium wraps and foils, bin liners, and coffee filters

With his mother, Quandt owned 18.3% of Gemplus International, a large digital security company, before its merger to form Gemalto in 2006.

Aqton

With a second holding company, Aqton SE, Quandt manages other investments, including in renewable energies:[11]

  • Heliatek, organic solar panels
  • Solarwatt, manufacturer of PV panels, solar batteries and energy management solutions
  • Kiwigrid, grid based renewable energy solution for utilities
  • BHF, financial services[12]

Philanthropy

Through the non-profit Aqtivator, Quandt supports projects for children, youth, and families with a focus on education, integration, and equal opportunity.[13][14]

Other activities

Corporate boards

Non-profit organizations

Political activities

Following the 2013 elections, Quandt – together with his mother and his sister – made donations to the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) totaling 690,000 euros.[22][23] Ahead of the 2017 elections, he gave 50,000 euros each to both the CDU and liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP).[24]

Personal life

In autumn 2005, Quandt married Katharina, a software engineer. They have a daughter, born on New Year's Eve that same year. He generally keeps a low profile. They live in Frankfurt, Germany.[1]

The Silence of the Quandts

The Hanns-Joachim-Friedrichs-Award winning documentary film The Silence of the Quandts[25][26] by the German public broadcaster ARD described in October 2007 the role of the Quandt family businesses during the Second World War. The family's Nazi past was not well known, but the documentary film revealed this to a wide audience and confronted the Quandts about the use of slave labourers in the family's factories during World War II. As a result, five days after the showing,[27] four family members announced, on behalf of the entire Quandt family, their intention to fund a research project in which a historian will examine the family's activities during Adolf Hitler's dictatorship.[28] The independent 1,200-page study researched and compiled by Bonn historian, Joachim Scholtyseck, that was released in 2011 concluded: "The Quandts were linked inseparably with the crimes of the Nazis".[27] As of 2008 no compensation, apology or memorial at the site of one of their factories, have been permitted.[26] BMW was not implicated in the report.[27]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Forbes profile: Stefan Quandt". Forbes. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  2. ↑ "Bloomberg Billionaires Index - # 89 Stefan Quandt $21.2B". Bloomberg L.P. 31 October 2021. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  3. ↑ "The Silence of the Quandts: The history of a wealthy German family". World Socialist Web Site. 29 November 2008. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
  4. ↑ BMW Group : BMW AG share & dept : Shareholder structure
  5. ↑ Edward Taylor (11 August 2015), BMW heir Stefan Quandt asks for exemption from takeover bid rule Reuters.
  6. ↑ Edward Taylor (11 August 2015), BMW heir Stefan Quandt asks for exemption from takeover bid rule Reuters.
  7. ↑ Edward Taylor, Alexander Huebner and Irene Preisinger (20 February 2018), Stefan Quandt becomes BMW's most powerful shareholder Reuters.
  8. ↑ "BMW Group : Investor Relations : Supervisory Board".
  9. ↑ Chris Reiter (20 June 2019), BMW Billionaire Heirs Say Their Lives Are Harder Than You Think Bloomberg Business.
  10. ↑ Chris Reiter (20 June 2019), BMW Billionaire Heirs Say Their Lives Are Harder Than You Think Bloomberg Business.
  11. ↑ Handelsblatt: BMW Battery Baron at Full Power
  12. ↑ Edward Taylor (29 July 2015), BHF shareholder AQTON: 5.10 eur offer from FOSUN too low Reuters.
  13. ↑ Christopher Stolz (10 June 2021), Das sind die fünf reichsten Menschen Deutschlands Der Tagesspiegel.
  14. ↑ Dietmar Student and Martin Noé (20 June 2019), Susanne Klatten und Stefan Quandt im Interview: "Wer würde denn mit uns tauschen wollen?" Manager Magazin.
  15. ↑ Christopher Stolz (10 June 2021), Das sind die fünf reichsten Menschen Deutschlands Der Tagesspiegel.
  16. ↑ Board Friends of the Museum für Moderne Kunst.
  17. ↑ Supervisory Board Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).
  18. ↑ Board of Trustees BMW Foundation.
  19. ↑ Board of Trustees Eberhard von Kuenheim Foundation.
  20. ↑ Board of Trustees Johanna Quandt Foundation.
  21. ↑ Board of Trustees Stiftung Charité.
  22. ↑ Alexandra Hudson (15 October 2013), BMW family donation to Merkel's party stokes lobbying row Reuters’'.
  23. ↑ Anton Troianovski (15 October 2013), Timing of BMW Donation to Merkel's Party Draws Fire Wall Street Journal.
  24. ↑ Cynthia Kroet and Joshua Posaner (1 August 2017), Auto giants help make Angela Merkel’s conservatives Germany’s top fundraisers Reuters.
  25. ↑ The Silence of the Quandts (English subtitles, German narration) on YouTube
  26. 1 2 Emma Bode and Brigitte Fehlau (29 November 2008). "The Silence of the Quandts: The history of a wealthy German family. A documentary film by Eric Friedler and Barbara Siebert". World Socialist Web Site. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  27. 1 2 3 Paterson, Tony (29 September 2011). "BMW dynasty breaks silence on its Nazi past". The Independent. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  28. ↑ Bonstein, Julia (10 December 2007), "Breaking the Silence: BMW's Quandt Family to Investigate Wealth Amassed in Third Reich", Der Spiegel
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