Albrecht controls half of Aldi Sued, part of the German food retail chain. The Muelheim an der Ruhr-based company operates more than 6,200 stores and had 60 billion euros ($70.7 billion) in revenue in 2018. Albrecht's father started the supermarket business with his brother Theo, from whom he split in 1960.
Karl Albrecht Jr's net worth of $12.3B can buy ...
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Albrecht's fortune is derived from a half stake in Aldi Sued, part of the German food retail chain. Aldi Sued had revenue of 60 billion euros ($70.7 billion) in 2018, according to retail consultants Edge by Ascential Retail Insight. Albrecht controls Aldi Sued with his sister, Beate, and her husband and oldest son, through their Eichenau, Germany-based Siepmann trust, according to an interview with his late father in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper in 2014.
The valuation of Aldi Sued is based on the average enterprise value-to-sales multiple of two publicly traded peer companies: Carrefour and Sainsbury. The revenue figure used in the analysis was updated on Sept. 3, 2019 and this led to an increase in the calculation of about $1.2 billion.
Carolin Kunsleben, a spokeswoman for Aldi Sued, declined to comment on the net worth calculation.
Karl Albrecht Jr.'s father, also named Karl, was born in Essen, Germany, in 1920, to Karl Albrecht, a miner, and Anna Albrecht, who owned and ran a local supermarket. His father served in the German Wehrmacht during World War II and was wounded on the Russian front. He returned to Essen in 1946 with his younger brother Theo to take over their mother's grocery shop. By 1953, the brothers had expanded the business to about 30 discount supermarkets under the name Albrechts.
In the early 1960s, the company's name was changed to Aldi -- short for Albrecht Discount. The brothers subsequently split Aldi into two separate companies: Aldi Sued and Aldi Nord. Theo took the northern part of West Germany, plus western and southern Europe. Karl owned and operated the stores in southern and southwest Germany, the U.S., U.K., Australia and Eastern Europe.
Aldi Sued's retail expansion outside Germany started with the opening of a store in Austria in 1968. The first U.S. store opened in 1976, followed by the U.K. in 1989, and Australia in 2001.
Albrecht stepped down as Aldi Sued CEO in 1994, and as chairman in 2002. He shunned public life after Theo was kidnapped and released in 1971. Theo died in July 2010, at age 88. Karl divided his time between Essen and his villa in Germany's Black Forest before his death in July 2014. He was married with two children, Karl Jr. and Beate, and six grandchildren.
Karl Jr. and Beate each received half of their father's fortune, and serve on Aldi Sued's supervisory board. Karl Jr. is childless. Beate is married with six children.