Most of the people that have more than a billion dollars are well known in the public. Bill Gates, Mark Zukerberg, Warren Buffet, Amancio Ortega, Larry Ellison, Jim and Alice Walton, Michael Bloomberg and so on. However, what you do not know is that there are also billionaires that not many people have heard of. Presenting you a list of unknown European billionaires.
Ioan Niculae
Not many people have heard of the richest person in Romanio whose fortune is at estimated $1.4 billion. He is the wealthiest person in Romania thanks to his fertilizer and agricultural conglomerate. He started his business in the 1990s, starting with a chemical trade company with a Turkish partner, “Interaction”. The business was going well, but Niculae wanted more, so he founded InterAgro, the company he owns today with a Romanian-Chinese joint venture. In the past few years, the company has revenues exceeding $700 million each year.
It might sound funny, but Niculae has made his fortune producing cereals as his company is the biggest Romanian cereal cultivator. He also produces wine, as his company has 170 hectares of vineyards. His company surpassed $100 million in investments in 2004.
David Nahmad
Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Nahmad nowadays lives in Monaco, and he is one of the wealthiest people in the Kingdom. His fortune is estimated at close to $2 billions, thanks to his business of selling artworks. By many experts, Nahmad is considered the single biggest buying force and most influential person in fine arts business. He is a retired dealer, but his business is still flowing. David started his business in his teenage years, after he moved to Europe following the World War II. At the beginning, he was selling pictures in Italy, mostly in Rome and Milano. However, in the 1970s, Milano was considered unsafe, so he moved to Monaco where he continued his business of selling fine arts.
Antti Herlin
You can actually become a billionaire by selling elevators, and Herlin is a living proof. Herlin is the richest person in Finland, and his fortune is estimated at $3.6 billion. He is serving as the Chairman of KONE Corporation, the largest elevators and escalators corporation in Finland. Little is known for Herlin, as he likes to keep his private life private,
Americo Amorim
At age of 81, Amorim is still running his own business. With a net worth of more than $4 billion, Amorim ranks in the top 400 at the Forbes list of billionaires. His company, Corticera Amorim is the world’s leading producer of cork, with more than $700 millions in sales per year. He inherited the position and the company that was founded by his grandfather, but Americo continued its success and even improved the sales. He owns 50% of the stakes of the company. Americo is another European billionaire that keeps his private life private, with little information aside from the name of his wife Maria Fernanda and three daughters known to the public.
Albert Frere
The richest man in Belgium started his business in the steel industry when he was just 30 years old. Now, at 89 years, he is still running the business with a fortune of more than $4.8 billion. He grew up in a poor family, unlike some of the other billionaires, and as young kid, he helped his mother in the nail merchandise business. His father died when he was just 17 years old, so Albert had to leave school and run the family business. He is chairman of his Cockerill-Sambre group that runs the steel business, but he also has investments in some of the major Belgian companies such as Royale Belge Insurance, Petrofina, Tractebel and CLT. In 2002, Albert received the title Baron from the King Albert II for his contribution to the country and its development.
Odd Reitan
Owning a chain of supermarkets REMA 1000, Reitan is the richest person in Norway. In cooperation with his father, Reitan established his first shop in 1972, and the business has gone up ever since. His chain of supermarkets has expanded outside Norway, with shops in Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Slovakia and Hungary. In 2012, Reitan published a book, proposing an idea of him governing Norway without being elected. His idea was to be appointed by the King for this job. The idea was dismissed by many magazines in Norway as being undemocratic act. Reitan also does a lot of philanthropy, with the latest example being in 2013, when he donated $2 million to the chief editor of Oslo, supporting his work in the increased respect for street vendors.
Georg F. W. Schaeffler
Owning more than 80% of the stocks of the Schaefller Group, Georg is the richest European billionaire with a net worth of more than $27 billion. His company employs more than 80,000 people in more than 150 countries in the world. His Schaefller Group produces car parts, and owns one of the largest tire manufacturers in the world, Continental AG.
What is interesting about Georg Schaeffler is that practiced international law for some times in the United States, despite already having a company to run. He got a bachelor in economics in 1990, and since then to 1996 he run the company. In 1996, he enrolled to the Duke University to get a masters degree in law, and practiced international law in Dallas for two years. He also served in the German armed forces for two years, after which he got back to the car parts industry, taking over for LuK GMBH, before re-founding his Schaeffler group in 2008. Since then, he has become one of the wealthiest people in the world.
