Wuerth is the owner of the Wuerth Group, a German maker of screws and tools. The Kuenzelsau-based company is closely held, sells its industrial construction materials in about 80 countries and reported revenue of 13.6 billion euros ($16.1 billion) in 2018. It has about 78,500 employees and 3.6 million customers.
Reinhold Wuerth's net worth of $12.4B can buy ...
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The majority of Wuerth's fortune is derived from his control of the Wuerth Group, a closely held manufacturer of screws and other building supplies. He controls the stake through a series of family trusts, which are held in the name of his three children, according to Orbis, a database of company information published by Bureau van Dijk.
The billionaire is credited with the fortune to reflect his role as chairman of the supervisory board of Wuerth Group's family trusts. Wuerth Group has more than 78,500 employees and 3.6 million customers, according to its website.
The Wuerth Group had revenue of 13.6 billion euros ($16.1 billion) in 2018, according to its 2018 annual report, up from 12.7 billion euros in 2017.
The company's valuation is based on the average of the enterprise value-to-Ebit and enterprise value-to-Ebitda multiples of three publicly traded peers: Stanley Black & Decker, Snap-on and Masco. It was updated on May 30, 2019 to incorporate 2018 financial results and this led to an increase in the calculation of about $1 billion.
Wuerth purchased “The Madonna With the Family of Mayor Meyer” for more than $70 million in 2011, the highest price ever paid for an artwork in Germany. It's part of an art collection that contains more than 15,000 pieces, which is worth at least $500 million, according to a person familiar with the collection who asked not to be identified because its value is private.
Denis Bernloehr, a spokesperson for the Wuerth Group, didn't respond to requests for comment on the net wealth calculation.
Reinhold Wuerth was born in Oehringen, Germany in 1935, to Alma and Adolf Wuerth. His parents started a screw selling business in Kuenzelsau, Germany, in July 1945. He quit high school at age 14 to join the family business, inheriting the company after his father's death five years later.
When he took control in 1954, the company had $100,000 in sales. Global expansion followed and by 1988 revenue reached $1 billion. He stepped down as CEO in 1994 and became chairman of the company's supervisory board. His daughter, Bettina, took over his board position in 2006, when Wuerth was named honorary chairman.
The billionaire lives with his wife, Carmen, and the couple has three children. They have an art collection of more than 15,000 works and opened the Kunsthalle Wuerth museum in 2001 to display part of the collection to the public.