Ingvar Kamprad, the Swedish business magnate who founded IKEA, turns 90 today. Employees celebrated with cake at the company's headquarters in Sweden, according to one of IKEA's designers.
Kamprad started IKEA more than 70 years ago, and today the beloved brand is the world's largest furniture maker. Though he no longer actively manages the company — one of his sons serves as chairman — he remains a senior adviser.
With an estimated net worth of$39.3 billion, Kamprad ranks as the 10th-richest person on earth and the second-richest in Europe. Still, Kamprad is considered one of the world's most frugal billionaires.
The 90-year-old grew his flatpacking-furniture brand by maintaining a personal and professional ethos of innovation and simplicity.
From humble beginnings selling holiday tchotchkes to his neighbors as a child, Kamprad started a revolutionary, privately held furniture giant with $33 billion in sales — and became one of the richest people on the planet in the process.
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Kamprad was born in the south of Sweden in 1926 and by the age of 5 began selling matches for profit. At 10, he rode his bike around the neighborhood to sell Christmas decorations, fish, and pencils.
Source: Business Insider, Sweden.se
In his teens, Kamprad became involved in a Nazi youth movement by the influence of his German grandmother, who was "a great admirer of Hitler." He later described that time as "the greatest mistake of my life" and even penned a letter to his employees asking their forgiveness.
When Kamprad was 17, his dad gave him a cash reward for making good grades in school despite his dyslexia. He used the money to found IKEA in 1943. Kamprad didn't introduce furniture until five years in; he'd started by selling small household items, like picture frames.
Source: Business Insider
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