Johann Peter Rupert (born 1 June 1950) is a South African billionaire businessman, who is the eldest son of business tycoon Anton Rupert and his wife Huberte. He is the chairman of the Swiss-based luxury-goods company Richemont and the South Africa-based company Remgro. Since April 2010, he has been the CEO of Compagnie Financiere Richemont. Rupert and family were ranked the richest in South Africa on the 2023 Forbes list, with an estimated net worth of US$10.7 billion.
The majority of Rupert’s fortune is derived from Cie Financiere Richemont, a publicly traded luxury goods manufacturer and retailer, and the world’s largest luxury watchmaker, according to Bloomberg Intelligence data.
Parties associated with Johann Rupert and his family investment vehicle, Compagnie Financiere Rupert, own 0.5% of the luxury company’s Class A shares, which are publicly traded, according to its March 2023 annual report. Through Switzerland-based Compagnie Financiere Rupert, the family also owns all Class B shares, which do not trade and have one-tenth the economic value of Class A shares, according to the same report.
The billionaire serves as chairman of the family’s investment vehicle. Individual ownership stakes aren’t disclosed and are attributed to Rupert in this analysis.
They also have a stake in Remgro, a holding group with investments in more than 30 companies, including FirstRand, Unilever South Africa and RMB Holdings. The family beneficially owns 1% of Remgro’s publicly traded ordinary shares and controls all of Remgro’s Class B shares through Rembrandt Trust, a trust of which Rupert is a director, according to the company’s June 2022 annual report. The two share classes carry equal economic value, according to analysts who cover the company and asked not to be identified.
They own almost 25% of Reinet Investments, a company founded in 2008 as a holding entity for Richemont’s stake in British American Tobacco, through beneficial ownership of the South Africa-based Anton Rupert Trust, according to the company’s 2023 Annual Report report.
The value of the family’s cash holdings are calculated based on dividend proceeds as well as taxes, insider transactions and market performance.
Alan Grieve, director of corporate affairs at CFR Richemont, declined to comment on Rupert’s net worth.
Biography
Education: Stellenbosch University
Johann Peter Rupert was born June 1, 1950, in Stellenbosch, the oldest son of billionaire industrialist Anton Rupert and his wife, Huberte. A self-made businessman, his father had founded tobacco company Rembrandt Group in 1948. After attending school in Stellenbosch, the younger Rupert enrolled at University of Stellenbosch to study economics and corporate law. He didn’t graduate, choosing to move to New York, where he took a trainee position with Chase Manhattan.
After five years in New York — working first for Chase, then for Lazard Freres — he returned to South Africa where he founded Rand Merchant Bank. A few years later, the bank merged with Rand Consolidated Investments and Rupert joined the family business. Rembrandt diversified into wine and spirits and various South African sectors, including banking, mining, food and packaging. In the late 1980s, Rupert took over from his father as chairman of Rembrandt. One of his first big moves was spinning off Rembrandt’s European assets and forming the Swiss luxury goods conglomerate, Richemont. The company owns stakes in such well-known brands as Van Cleef & Arpels, Azzedine Alaia and Piaget.
Rupert serves as chairman of Richemont, Remgro — which is a restructured iteration of Rembrandt Group created in 2000 — and Reinet Investments, a holding company he founded in 2009 to control Rembrandt’s stake in British American Tobacco. An avid sportsman, he designed the course at his Leopard Creek Golf Club in Nelspruit, which he bought in 1995 with professional golfer Gary Player.
The billionaire is chairman of the South African PGA Tour, a lifelong member of the European Tour, and the founder of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, which aims to help young people overcome poverty, homelessness, AIDS and violence through sports-related community projects. A conservation enthusiast, he chairs the Peace Parks Foundation, which protects biodiversity in South Africa’s border regions.
He lives in Stellenbosch with his wife, Gaynor.
Business career
Rupert served his business apprenticeship in New York City, where he worked for Chase Manhattan for two years and for Lazard Freres for three years. He then returned to South Africa in 1979 and founded Rand Merchant Bank of which he was CEO.
- 1984: Merged RMB and Rand Consolidated Investments, forming RMB Holdings, and left to join his father’s company, the Rembrandt Group.
- 1988 Founded Compagnie Financiere Richemont in 1988 and was appointed Non-Executive Director of Rothmans International plc in 1988. He was named “Businessman of the Year” by the Sunday Times in the same year.
- 1989: Appointed Vice Chairman of the Rembrandt Group.
- 1990: Named business leader of the year by Die Burger newspaper and the Cape Town Chamber of Commerce. Formed Richemont subsidiary Vendôme Luxury Group SA.
- 1991: Appointed Chairman of Rembrandt Group Limited and in 1992 he was named one of 200 “Global Leaders of Tomorrow” by the World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland.
- 1993: Received the M.S. Louw Award from the A.H.I. (“Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut”).
- 1996: Named Sunday Times Business Times’s Businessman of the Year for second time.
- 1997: Appointed Non-Executive Chairman of Gold Fields South Africa Ltd.
- 1999: Awarded the 1999 Free Market Award by The Free Market Foundation of South Africa.
- 2000: Restructured Rembrandt Group Limited and formed Remgro Limited and VenFin Limited. Appointed Chairman and Chief Executive of Compagnie Financière Richemont SA. Voted “Most influential Business Leader” in South Africa by CEOs of top 100 Listed Companies
- 2004: Awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Economics by the University of Stellenbosch.
- 2008 Voted South Africa’s Business Leader of the Year by the CEOs of the Top 100 Companies, for the third time.
- 2009 Appointed “Officier” of the French “Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur” by the President of the French Republic
Selected as the 2009 International Wine Entrepreneur of the Year at the Meininger “Excellence in Wine and Spirit” awards ceremony in Düsseldorf, Germany.
- 2009: Appointed Chancellor of Stellenbosch University
- 2010 Made Honorary Vice President of the European Golf Tour
Awarded honorary doctorate by the University of St Andrews, Scotland
Milestones
- 1948 Father, Anton, founds cigarette manufacturer Rembrandt.
- 1950 Johann Rupert is born in Stellenbosch, South Africa.
- 1974 Leaves college and moves to New York to work in banking.
- 1979 Returns to South Africa, founds Rand Merchant Bank.
- 1984 Joins Rembrandt, takes over as chairman within a few years.
- 1988 Spins off Rembrandt’s European assets into luxury group Richemont.
- 2000 Establishes The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.
- 2012 Steps down as CEO of Richemont; remains chairman.
