ÜnPöör
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Sunday, April 4, 2004
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Interesting: IKEA founder overtakes Gates as world’s richest – TV
Ingvar Kamprad, the Swede who founded furniture retail chain IKEA, has overtaken Microsoft’s Bill Gates as the world’s richest man, Swedish TV news reported on Sunday.Citing next week’s edition of the Swedish business weekly Veckans Affarer, public service SVT2 television said Kamprad, 77, has a personal fortune of 400 billion crowns ($53 billion).
Gates’s fortune is put at $47 billion, according to the latest list of the world’s rich in U.S. Forbes magazine, SVT2 said.
Kamprad, known for frugal habits such as flying economy class, lives in Switzerland and no longer takes part in the daily running of IKEA, but has kept ownership of the company with more than 180 stores in over 30 countries in the family.
SVT2 said the dollar’s slide against other currencies is the main reason why Kamprad has now overtaken Gates.
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About James Joyner
He sounds like Sam Walton . Heard of an anecdote where he drove his well used car to a Walmart corporate meeting and then chastized the executives who had taken private jets.
I like it when guys like this get rich. It gives me hope.
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Interesting.
Ikea, huh? Who’d have thunk?
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Heh. Well, they convince people to throw away perfectly good lamps! A heck of a business model.
Plus, they’re based in Scandinavia, where they don’t know light beer is supposed to suck. What an advantage!
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