Susanne Klatten
Encyclopedia
Susanne Klatten is the daughter of Herbert
and Johanna Quandt
. As of 2011, she is worth $14.6 billion, and is the richest woman in Germany and the 44th richest person in the world.
in Frankfurt from 1981 to 1983. This was followed by a course in marketing and management at the University of Buckingham
, and an MBA from IMD
in Lausanne
specialising in advertising.
She gained further business experience in London with Dresdner Bank
, the Munich branch of management consultants McKinsey
and the bank Reuschel & Co.
Recognising that her wealth is sometimes a problem, she often worked incognito under the name Susanne Kant. Police prevented an attempt to kidnap her in 1978.
. She sits on Altana's supervisory board and helped transform it into a world-class corporation in the German DAX
list of 30 top companies. In 2006 Altana AG sold its pharmaceutical activities to Nycomed
for €4.5 billion, leaving only its specialty chemicals business. The €4.5 billion was distributed to shareholders as a dividend. Altana maintained its stock exchange listing and Susanne Klatten remained its majority shareholder. In 2009 she bought almost all shares she did not already own in Altana.
Her father also left her a 12.50% stake in BMW
. She was appointed to the supervisory board of BMW with her brother Stefan Quandt
in 1997.
German graphite maker SGL Group said on 16 March 2009 that Susanne Klatten owns options to raise her stake in SGL from 8% to almost a quarter of the shares but no more than that.
, where he worked as an engineer. During this time she called herself Kant and did not tell him who she was until they were sure about each other. They married in 1990 in Kitzbühel
and live in Munich
. They have three children. She also plays golf and skis in Austria
. Like the other members of the Quandt family, they live quietly. She has been a member of the University Council of the Technical University of Munich
since 2005. In 2007 she was awarded the Bayerischer Verdienstorden, the Bavarian Order of Merit
. She is one of the biggest donors of the centre-right
political party
the Christian Democratic Union
.
plot against Susanne Klatten and the subsequent arrest of two men. Klatten was blackmailed in 2007 by Helg (Russak) Sgarbi, 44, a Swiss who threatened to release intimate films unless she paid him 14 million euros. Klatten contacted the German police in response to this threat. It was also reported that Klatten had previously paid 7.5 million euros to Sgarbi after he claimed his life was endangered by the mafia
.
The reports state that Sgarbi approached Klatten in 2006 at Hotel Lanserhof, a spa near Innsbruck
, Austria
, and that the couple had then met in secret at luxury hotels in Monte Carlo, her hometown of Munich, and in other European cities.
Sgarbi was arrested in January 2009 by the Austrian EKO Cobra
police unit and extradited to Germany where he faced charges of fraud, attempted fraud, and attempted extortion. On 9 March 2009 Sgarbi pleaded guilty in court, his counsel stating that the accusations against him were essentially accurate. It was anticipated that by pleading guilty at an early stage his sentence would be reduced. He was indeed sentenced to six years in jail which fell short of the nine years the prosecution sought. As he did not disclose the location of over €9 million he received from the women he blackmailed, he cannot be released early. His accomplice, Italian hotel owner Ernano Barretta who allegedly filmed Sgarbi and Klatten with hidden cameras, is in custody in Italy.
A programme by the German public broadcaster, ARD
, in October 2007 described in detail the role of the Quandt family businesses during the Second World War. As a result, four family members announced, on behalf of the entire Quandt family, their intention to fund a research project in which a historian will examine the family’s activities during Hitler’s
dictatorship.
Herbert Quandt
Herbert Werner Quandt , was a German industrialist who is regarded as having saved BMW when it was at the point of bankruptcy and made huge profit in doing so.- Early life :...
and Johanna Quandt
Johanna Quandt
Johanna Quandt is the German widow of industrialist Herbert Quandt, who resurrected BMW from bankruptcy. As a result, she is the 14th richest person in Germany....
. As of 2011, she is worth $14.6 billion, and is the richest woman in Germany and the 44th richest person in the world.
Education
After gaining a degree in business finance, Susanne Klatten worked for the advertising agency Young & RubicamYoung & Rubicam
Y&R is a marketing and communications company specializing in advertising, digital and social media, sales promotion, direct marketing and brand identity consulting.-History:...
in Frankfurt from 1981 to 1983. This was followed by a course in marketing and management at the University of Buckingham
University of Buckingham
The University of Buckingham is an independent, non-sectarian, research and teaching university located in Buckingham, Buckinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Great Ouse. It was originally founded as Buckingham University College in the 1970s and received its Royal Charter from the...
, and an MBA from IMD
International Institute for Management Development
IMD - International Institute for Management Development is a non profit business school located in Lausanne, Switzerland.- History & Mission :...
in Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
specialising in advertising.
She gained further business experience in London with Dresdner Bank
Dresdner Bank
Dresdner Bank AG was one of Germany's largest banking corporations and was based in Frankfurt. It was acquired by competitor Commerzbank in December 2009.- 19th century :...
, the Munich branch of management consultants McKinsey
McKinsey & Company
McKinsey & Company, Inc. is a global management consulting firm that focuses on solving issues of concern to senior management. McKinsey serves as an adviser to many businesses, governments, and institutions...
and the bank Reuschel & Co.
Recognising that her wealth is sometimes a problem, she often worked incognito under the name Susanne Kant. Police prevented an attempt to kidnap her in 1978.
Investments
On her father's death she inherited his 50.1% stake in pharmaceutical and chemicals manufacturer AltanaAltana
The Altana AG is a German chemical company based in Wesel. Altana develops and produces products in the specialty chemicals business. The ALTANA Group, with headquarters in Wesel/Germany, sells 85% of its products overseas...
. She sits on Altana's supervisory board and helped transform it into a world-class corporation in the German DAX
DAX
The DAX is a blue chip stock market index consisting of the 30 major German companies trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Prices are taken from the electronic Xetra trading system...
list of 30 top companies. In 2006 Altana AG sold its pharmaceutical activities to Nycomed
Nycomed
Nycomed is a European pharmaceutical company. Nycomed is privately owned primarily by the two private equity investors Nordic Capital and CSFB Alternative Capital. Production is located in Norway, Denmark, Poland, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Estonia India, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. Head office...
for €4.5 billion, leaving only its specialty chemicals business. The €4.5 billion was distributed to shareholders as a dividend. Altana maintained its stock exchange listing and Susanne Klatten remained its majority shareholder. In 2009 she bought almost all shares she did not already own in Altana.
Her father also left her a 12.50% stake in BMW
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
. She was appointed to the supervisory board of BMW with her brother Stefan Quandt
Stefan Quandt
Stefan Quandt is a German engineer and industrialist. He is ranked as the 72nd richest person in the world in the Forbes list of billionaires, who put his personal wealth at $10.7 billion...
in 1997.
German graphite maker SGL Group said on 16 March 2009 that Susanne Klatten owns options to raise her stake in SGL from 8% to almost a quarter of the shares but no more than that.
Personal life
Susanne met Jan Klatten while she was doing an apprenticeship with BMW in RegensburgRegensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
, where he worked as an engineer. During this time she called herself Kant and did not tell him who she was until they were sure about each other. They married in 1990 in Kitzbühel
Kitzbühel
-Demographic evolution:-Personalities:*Karl Wilhelm von Dalla Torre , entomologist and botanist*Alfons Walde , expressionist painter and architect*Peter Aufschnaiter , mountaineer and geographer...
and live in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
. They have three children. She also plays golf and skis in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. Like the other members of the Quandt family, they live quietly. She has been a member of the University Council of the Technical University of Munich
Technical University of Munich
The Technische Universität München is a research university with campuses in Munich, Garching, and Weihenstephan...
since 2005. In 2007 she was awarded the Bayerischer Verdienstorden, the Bavarian Order of Merit
Bavarian Order of Merit
The Bavarian Order of Merit is the order of merit of the Free State of Bavaria. It is awarded by the Minister-President of Bavaria as a "recognition of outstanding contributions to the Free State of Bavaria and the Bavarian people"....
. She is one of the biggest donors of the centre-right
Centre-right
The centre-right or center-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals, political parties, or organizations whose views stretch from the centre to the right on the left-right spectrum, excluding far right stances. Centre-right can also describe a coalition of centrist...
political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
the Christian Democratic Union
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
.
Affair and blackmail
On 31 October 2008 several European newspapers reported a blackmailBlackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
plot against Susanne Klatten and the subsequent arrest of two men. Klatten was blackmailed in 2007 by Helg (Russak) Sgarbi, 44, a Swiss who threatened to release intimate films unless she paid him 14 million euros. Klatten contacted the German police in response to this threat. It was also reported that Klatten had previously paid 7.5 million euros to Sgarbi after he claimed his life was endangered by the mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
.
The reports state that Sgarbi approached Klatten in 2006 at Hotel Lanserhof, a spa near Innsbruck
Innsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, and that the couple had then met in secret at luxury hotels in Monte Carlo, her hometown of Munich, and in other European cities.
Sgarbi was arrested in January 2009 by the Austrian EKO Cobra
EKO Cobra
EKO Cobra is Austria's foremost counter-terrorism special operations tactical unit. It is not part of the Austrian Federal Police but is directly under the control of the Austrian Federal Ministry for the Interior.-History:...
police unit and extradited to Germany where he faced charges of fraud, attempted fraud, and attempted extortion. On 9 March 2009 Sgarbi pleaded guilty in court, his counsel stating that the accusations against him were essentially accurate. It was anticipated that by pleading guilty at an early stage his sentence would be reduced. He was indeed sentenced to six years in jail which fell short of the nine years the prosecution sought. As he did not disclose the location of over €9 million he received from the women he blackmailed, he cannot be released early. His accomplice, Italian hotel owner Ernano Barretta who allegedly filmed Sgarbi and Klatten with hidden cameras, is in custody in Italy.
A programme by the German public broadcaster, ARD
ARD (broadcaster)
ARD is a joint organization of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters...
, in October 2007 described in detail the role of the Quandt family businesses during the Second World War. As a result, four family members announced, on behalf of the entire Quandt family, their intention to fund a research project in which a historian will examine the family’s activities during Hitler’s
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
dictatorship.
