10 richest people on the planet
5. Ingvar Kamprad
Net worth
$48.5B
YTD change
+$5.7B
Profile
Sweden's richest man founded and controls IKEA, the world's largest furniture retailer. Kamprad got an early start on a business career, selling matches from his bike as a kid.
Did you know?
Kamprad is famed for his frugality, and reportedly recycles tea bags and pockets salt and paper packets at restaurants. Kamprad explained his social philosophy in a book, writing: 'It is not only for cost reasons that we avoid the luxury hotels. We don't need flashy cars, impressive titles, uniforms or other status symbols. We rely on our strength and our will!' Kamprad owns a villa in Switzerland, a large country estate in Sweden and a vineyard in Provence, France. This tends to undercut the strength-and-will advice.
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