These are the richest Austrians
Germany and Austria are astonishingly similar when it comes to their super-rich. In both neighbors there is one billionaire for every million citizens. They each have an average of just over 4 billion US dollars. Because of the small number of inhabitants, Austria does not get its top 10 in the current “Forbes” super-achievable list. But while in Germany many heirs are at the top, in Austria almost all billionaires have earned their own wealth.
The richest people in Austria, like billionaires worldwide, had to give up in 2019. Every second representative on the “Forbes” list for 2020 was “poorer” than last year. Of the nine Austrian front runners, only two were able to increase their wealth. If all the billionaires in the country were to throw their money together, they would be number 17 on the global list with $ 41.2 billion, between Michael Bloomberg and Jack Ma.
These are the richest Austrians:
@imago images / ZUMA Press
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# 9 Gaston Glock and family
This industrialist doesn’t want to be a billionaire. Gaston Glock representatives have protested against his inclusion in the ranking and denied the numbers from “Forbes”, as the magazine reports. But it stands by his estimates, according to which the founder and majority owner of the weapons manufacturer Glock GmbH is currently 1.1 billion US dollars. That is the same value as last year. The company’s turnover in 2017 was more than $ 500 million worldwide. It is estimated that Glock accounts for nearly 65 percent of the small arms market in the United States, as “Forbes” reported. It led the 91-year-old to 1851 worldwide in the 2020 billionaire ranking.
@imago images / Horst Rudel
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# 8 Wolfgang Leitner
Eighth place also goes to a self-made billionaire. Wolfgang Leitner’s father worked as a worker for the Andritz plant manufacturer for three decades. In 1994 his son took over the position of CEO and made Andritz one of the largest companies in Austria, as “Forbes” reported. But Leitner has also suffered losses since March 2019. According to analysts, the 67-year-old’s fortune fell by $ 1.7 billion to $ 1.2 billion.
@imago images / SKATA
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# 6 Michael Tojner
Michael Tojner (54) ranks 1135 worldwide with a fortune of 1.9 billion dollars. Tojner is new to it. He bought the German battery manufacturer Varta in 2007 and listed it on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange ten years later. Its 56 percent stake in Varta is worth more than $ 1 billion, according to Forbes.
Sohm’s fortune, however, decreased from 2.5 to 1.9 billion dollars. The 80-year-old at the time the list was published was in charge of the shipping company BW Group for 28 years. In 2014 he handed over the reins to his son Andreas. The Austrian has lived in Hong Kong for decades and is married to the eldest daughter of the shipping magnate Yue-Kong Pao, who died in 1991. Sohmen is currently ranked 30th among the richest people in Hong Kong, according to Forbes.
@imago images / ZUMA Press
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# 6 Helmut Sohmen
The 80-year-old Helmut Sohmen (left on a photo from 2008) is the former chairman and president of the shipping empire Bergesen-Worldwide (BW Group), which his father-in-law established in Hong Kong. In the meantime he has passed the business on to his son. His net worth shrunk from $ 2.5 billion to $ 1.9 billion last year.
@imago images / SKATA
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# 5 Heidi Horten
Heidi Horten is the first Austrian to crack the Top 1000 of the “Forbes” billionaires list. She is the widow of Helmut Horten. He had founded the German department store chain in 1936 and left his wife in 1987 with a fortune of 1 billion dollars, as “Forbes” reported. That has grown over the years and has remained largely constant over the past decade. The analysts estimated the wealth of the 79-year-olds at $ 3.0 billion (2019: $ 3.1 billion).
@imago images / SKATA
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# 4 Georg Stumpf
Georg Stumpf is one of two Austrian billionaires who were able to increase their fortune in the past year. The investor even managed an increase of almost 50 percent to now $ 4.4 billion. That was enough for 401st place worldwide. In 2017, the counter was still at $ 1.5 billion. As a building contractor, Stumpf followed in his father’s footsteps. With his five-digit loan, Stumpf laid the land for his success in 1994. He is chairman of the supervisory board of the building technology and plant construction company Exyte AG. According to Forbes, the garage of his villa in Vienna has space for 40 cars.
@imago images / SKATA
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# 3 René Benko
René Benko is the third richest person in Austria with a fortune of 4.7 billion dollars (200 million less than in 2019) according to Forbes. The 43-year-old founder of Signa Holding ranks 361th worldwide. According to the report, the country’s largest private real estate company has assets of 20 billion euros. In this country, Benko became known through the purchase of the Karstadt and Galeria Kaufhof department store chains. They were merged into one group in 2019. In the wake of the Corona crisis, media reports suggest that up to 80 of the 170 branches will be closed and thousands of employees will be laid off. Benko has been co-owner of the two largest Austrian daily newspapers “Kronen Zeitung” and “Kurier” since 2018.
@dpa
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# 2 Johann Graf
Johann Graf (73) is the owner of the gaming company Novomatic Group and is currently worth around 6.5 billion dollars, according to Forbes. In 2019, analysts estimated his fortune at $ 8.1 billion. According to the report, restrictions on gambling in Germany ensured that Novomatic was unable to report a profit in 2018.
@imago images / Eibner Europe
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# 1 Dietrich Mateschitz
Dietrich Mateschitz (76) plays in a league of its own among Austria’s billionaires. According to Forbes, the co-founder and owner of Red Bull GmbH had assets of $ 16.5 billion as of April 7, 2020. That was more than twice as much as with the runner-up Johann Graf. Mateschitz ‘lead, however, melts year after year. In 2019 he topped the list at $ 18.9 billion, down from $ 23 billion in 2018.
