Business The number of jobs Johann Rupert's empire has created in South Africa Staff Writer · 21 Jul 2024 Johann Rupert, South Africa's wealthiest businessman, has created hundreds of thousands of jobs in South Africa alone. The latest Forbes and Bloomberg billionaire indexes estimate Rupert's net wealth to be between $11.3 billion (R206 billion) and $13.
5 billion (R246 billion). Forbes reports that most of the world's billionaires have amassed their wealth through finance and investments. This sector boasts the highest number of billionaires (372), with many accumulating their fortune through hedge funds, private equity, venture capitalism, and fintech.
This is also the case for Johann Rupert. He acquired his wealth primarily through significant holdings in Richemont, a Switzerland-based luxury holding company, as well as stakes in Remgro, a South African investment firm, and Reinet Investments. After joining his father's company, Johann spun off Rembrandt's international assets to create Compagnie Financiere Richemont, a Swiss luxury goods holding company.
This new company includes brands such as Cartier and Montblanc. In 2000, Rembrandt underwent a restructuring, which resulted in the formation of two publicly traded holding companies—Remgro and Venfin. Remgro managed Rembrandt's traditional assets, while Venfin acquired the technology-oriented assets.
Rupert was appointed chairman and CEO of Richemont in 2000. In 2008, the company's non-luxury-related activities were spun off into Reinet Investments. Today, Rupert is the chairman of Remgro, Richemont and Reinet.
The family owns a controlling stake in all three companies. While Rupert's wealth is often a topic of debate, there is little on the positive impact this wealth has on South Africa. Considering this, BusinessTech looked at the latest company reports of Rupert's companies and their biggest subsidiaries or stakes to see how many people these entities employ within their South African.
.. Staff Writer.
