Dieter Schwarz (born 24 September 1939) is a German billionaire businessman, and owner of the Schwarz-Gruppe. He is the former chairman and CEO of the supermarket chain Lidl, and the hypermarket chain Kaufland.
The majority of Schwarz’s fortune derives from his control of Schwarz Group, which operates the Lidl and Kaufland supermarket chains.
The company had sales of 154.1 billion euros ($162.4 billion) in the year to February 2023, according to the company’s website. Schwarz Group is the biggest food retailer in Europe, according to consultancy Retail-Index.
The valuation of Lidl is based on the average enterprise value-to-sales multiples of three publicly traded peer companies: Carrefour, Sainsburys and Tesco. The valuation of Kaufland is based on the average enterprise value-to-sales multiples of two peers: Carrefour and Casino.
The group’s waste management and recycling business, PreZero, is valued using reported financial results and the average enterprise value-to-sales multiple of four publicly traded peers: Veolia Environnement SA, Befesa SA, Seche Environnement SA and Derichebourg SA.
Schwarz controls his assets through Dieter Schwarz Stiftung, a limited liability company with a charitable purpose. Schwarz gave Hermann-Josef Hoffmann power of attorney over the company in 1996 and shares of Lidl and Kaufland were transferred into the entity in 1999, to protect the companies’ independence and long-term survival.
Schwarz’s operating company — of which he is an honorary board member with veto power — controls all of the Lidl and Kaufland voting rights and decides how much money goes to the stiftung, according to the company. Under German law, the stiftung is tax-exempt as long as a stated public benefit purpose is maintained. Because of this flexibility, the value of Lidl and Kaufland shares is counted as Schwarz’s personal fortune.
Stefanie Geiges, a spokesperson for Dieter Schwarz Stiftung, declined to comment on the net worth analysis.
Biography
Dieter Schwarz was born in Heilbronn, Germany, in 1939, to Josef Schwarz and his wife. Schwarz’s father had co-founded the Lidl & Schwarz grocery in 1930, which was destroyed during the Second World War and rebuilt after the war ended.
Schwarz joined his father’s company after finishing high school. He set out to replicate the supermarket discount model created by competitors Aldi Nord and Aldi Sued, which were founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht. He opened the first Lidl discount store in Ludwigshafen, Germany, in 1973. Unable to rename the grocery chain ‘Schwarzmarkt’ — which means black market in German — he purchased the rights to the Lidl name for 1,000 deutsche marks, about $500 at the time.
Following his father’s death in 1977, Schwarz took over as Lidl’s chairman and CEO. He opened discount chain Kaufland in 1984 and began expanding both chains throughout Europe in the late ’80s and ’90s. He left his management role in 1999. To secure Lidl and Kaufland’s future independence, he put 99.9% of the companies’ shares in a namesake foundation and 100% of the voting rights in a separate operating company. He lives in Heilbronn with his wife, Franziska. The couple has two daughters.
Net worth
In 2009, he was estimated to be worth 10 billion euro. As of October 2012, he was estimated to be worth 12 billion euro, an increase from 11.5 billion euro in 2011. In 2013, he was estimated be worth €19.6 billion, and ranked the 24th richest person in the world. As of February 2014, he was ranked as 23rd richest person in the world in the Hurun Report Global Rich List.
In June 2021, Bloomberg Billionaires Index listed Schwarz as the 61st richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of US$27.3 billion. Since 1999, Schwarz manages his resources through the tax-exempt Dieter Schwarz Foundation (gGmbH, limited liability company with a charitable purpose), when he transferred his shares in Lidl and Kaufland into it, deciding just how much of his profits go into the foundation. The Dieter Schwarz Foundation supports education and daycare facilities for children, for example, as well as science and research projects.
Personal life
In 1963, Schwarz married Franziska Weipert. They live in Heilbronn and have two daughters. Schwarz is known to be very protective of his privacy, to an extent that no media recordings of Schwarz exist and he refuses any kind of interview. Meanwhile, just three photos of him are known to exist in the press or in the image search of Google
Milestones
- 1930 Father Josef Schwarz starts fruit wholesaler Lidl & Co.
- 1939 Born in Heilbronn, Germany.
- 1963 Marries Franziska Weipert; the couple has two daughters.
- 1973 Opens first Lidl discount store in Ludwigshafen, Germany.
- 1977 Father dies; becomes CEO and chairman of the company.
- 1984 Kaufland hypermarket chain started in Neckarsulm.
- 1988 First Lidl store abroad opens in France.
- 1994 Opens first Lidl store in UK.
- 1999 Steps down as CEO and chairman; establishes foundation.
- 2007 Made honorary citizen of Heilbronn for his philanthropic giving.
