Ikea founder dies aged 91 after setting the business up when he was just 17 that is now worth £51bn with 412 stores... but despite his wealth he wore second hand clothes and drove 15-year-old car Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad has died at his Swedish home, the company says Notoriously frugal 91-year-old billionaire was listed as world's fourth richest man He said he regretted his Nazi past and that it was the biggest mistake of his life
Mr Kamprad - who was once listed as the world's fourth richest man and accumulated a fortune of about £51billion - is renowned for his frugality
In his early years, Mr Kamprad sold matchboxes to neighbours from his bicycle, finding out he could buy them in bulk very cheaply from Stockholm
Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad, described as 'one of the greatest entrepreneurs of the 20th century', has died
Posted by mena7 (Member # 20555) on :
What is the reason to be a billionaire if you are going to be frugal or cheap. I think people become rich to take care of themselves, to take care of their families and to control their time. You dont have to be a billionaire to accomplish those goal a multi millionaire can reach those goals.
If you dont need a billion dollars you should sell your business and live with your millions of dollars. It doesnt make sense that Ingvar kamprad who is worth $51 billion is buying second hand clothes, driving thirty years old car and flying in discount airline. I understand Igvar Kamprad may not want to waste money in overprice designer clothes like Armani, Gucci, Dior, Saint Laurent but I Kamprad can afford fairly price clothing like Ralph Lauren, Kalvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger. Kamprad may not want to buy high maintenance car like a Mercedes Benz, BMW and Audi but Kamprad can surely can afford a brand new Volkswagen Passat every five years. I agree with rich people that doesnt buy mansions, yachts, private planes and exotic cars because they are money pits who are expensive to operate and maintain.
Because in this world 1% of the rich own 50% of the wealth, the rich should spend their money wisely and not be frugal or cheap because businesses and workers depend on those rich people spending their money to survive.
Posted by lamin (Member # 5777) on :
Correction: 1% of the WORLD's population--not 1% of the rich.
You must recognize that those billionaires don't keep their money under their beds. Their money is in the form of stock, bank assets, property, etc.--which are invested in the case of bank holdings, rented out or used as in the case of property, and traded in terms of stock holdings.
Kamprad is a much better social role model than all those thieving billionaires of the 3rd world.
