#1350

Michael & Reiner Schmidt-Ruthenbeck

Germany 83 years old

Overview

Source of Wealth
retail
Residence
Duisburg

Assets

  • Ceconomy AG
    51,121,000 shares @ -
    -
    CEC-DE
  • Metro AG
    51,101,000 shares @ -
    -
    B4B-DE

Biography

Secretive brothers Michael Schmidt-Ruthenbeck and Reiner Schmidt are heirs to a piece of the Metro retail fortune.

Their grandfather Karl Schmidt expanded into the wholesale trade in the 1920s, supplying food retailers around Duisburg, Germany.

Karl Schmidt's sons Ernst and Wilhelm (father of Michael and Reiner) opened the first Metro hypermarket in Essen in 1963.

The following year, they formed a partnership with the Haniel family and the late billionaire Otto Beisheim to propagate Metro Cash & Carry.

Metro went public in 1996. In 2017, it split into Metro AG and Ceconomy AG (former consumer electronics business of Metro).

About

Germany's Mercator foundation is attributed to Michael. It has spent over $650 million on projects including climate change mitigation and cultural education.

Two Swiss foundations, Mercator Schweiz and the Karl Schmidt Family Foundation, are also funded by the family.