Schaeffler is chairman and majority owner of Schaeffler AG, a manufacturer of ball bearings and automotive supplies. The Herzogenaurach, Germany-based company had more than 85,000 employees and revenue of 13.9 billion euros ($16.4 billion) in 2021. He also controls almost 37% of auto parts maker Continental.
Georg Schaeffler's net worth of $6.00B can buy ...
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The majority of Schaeffler's fortune is derived from an 80% stake in INA-Holding, a Herzogenaurach, Germany-based closely held company. Through INA-Holding and its fully-owned subsidiaries, he controls interests in publicly traded auto parts maker Continental and ball bearing maker Schaeffler AG.
Schaeffler owns 80% of the holding vehicle as and his mother, Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler-Thumann owns the remaining 20%, according to company filings.
The billionaire and his mother collectively hold 46% of the Continental, according to the company's website in April 2022.
They also control Schaeffler AG, which had an initial public offering in 2015. All of the non-trading voting shares are held by IHO Verwaltungs, an entity is fully owned by INA-Holding, according to the 2021 annual report.
IHO Verwaltungs had debt of 3.4 billion euros as of Sept. 30, 2021, according to a company presentation. A liability is included to reflect the billionaire's 80% share of this debt and is adjusted to account for calculated cash holdings.
Thorston Moellmann, a spokesman at Schaeffler AG, didn't respond to a request for comment on the net worth calculation.
Georg Schaeffler was born in Herzogenaurach, Germany, to Maria-Elisabeth and Georg Schaeffler Sr., the founder of a namesake ball bearing manufacturer. He served as a lieutenant in Germany's Air Force reserves before studying business at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.
After graduating, he worked for his father's company in Germany and the U.S. for six years. He subsequently received degrees in international and comparative law from Duke University in 2000, and worked as a corporate lawyer for the Dallas law firm Haynes & Boone before returning to work for the family company in 2006.
Schaeffler inherited 80 percent of the business when his father died in 1996. With his mother, he orchestrated one of Germany's largest hostile takeovers, acquiring Continental for more than $17 billion in 2008. Continental shareholders eventually accepted the offer just as markets collapsed, leaving the Schaefflers with more than 90 percent of the shares and $15 billion in debt. Schaeffler restructured the debt and now controls almost half of Continental. He lives in Dallas, has four sons, and is divorced from his first wife, Bernadette Muehlen.