Austria has a group of individuals who have not only amassed immense wealth, but have significantly shaped the country's economic landscape. The wealthiest billionaires in Austria have assets over one billion euros:
Michael Dojner
Assets: €1.2 billion
Age: 58 years
Company: Varda
2287th place in “Forbes World's Billionaires List 2024”.
Michael Dojner bought the German micro-battery company Varda for 29.8 million euros in 2007. In 2017 he brought Varda to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. He owns half of a company that makes batteries for Apple's AirPods Pros.
Dojner is a well-known businessman involved in various industries. Apart from Varda, he also runs an online gambling website and invests in real estate, hotels and other industrial companies.
In 2012 he bought the Hotel InterContinental Vienna for 50 million euros. However, his plan to remodel the hotel was delayed by local opposition.
Ulrich Mamert & Family
Assets: €1.2 billion
Age: 83 years
Company: ZKW
2287th place in “Forbes World's Billionaires List 2024”.
In 1982, Ulrich Mommert took over the Austrian lighting company ZKW, which at the time was on the verge of bankruptcy. He refocused ZKW on lighting technology for high-end cars with clients such as BMW, Mercedes, Porsche and Audi.
In 2018, Mommert sold the company to South Korean company LG for €966 million. In addition to his entrepreneurship, Mommert also owns a horse racing team and a harness racing track in Berlin-Mariendorf.
This is Wolf
Assets: €1.5 billion
Age: 52 years
Company: Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1
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Toto Wolff is the president and CEO of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 team and holds a 33% stake. Under his leadership, Mercedes won eight consecutive constructors' championships in Formula 1 from 2014 to 2021, and seven consecutive drivers' championships during this period.
Wolff began his career as a banker, then moved into investing by founding incubator-style venture firms, including March Fifteen in 1998 and Marchixteen in 2004.
In 2009, Wolff invested in the Williams F1 team and was instrumental in their victory at the Spanish Grand Prix in 2012.
Wolfgang Leitner
Assets: €2.6 billion
Age: 71 years
Company: Andritz
1238th place in Forbes list of world billionaires
Wolfgang Leitner heads the Austrian company Andritz, which is listed on the stock exchange and manufactures systems and equipment. In July 2021, he announced that he would step down as CEO and take over as chairman of the supervisory board.
Originally trained as a chemist, Leitner joined Andritz in 1987, became CEO in 1994 and acquired a 26% stake in the company in 1999. Over time, he built Andritz into one of Austria's largest companies.
In 2018, Andritz completed the largest acquisition in its history, acquiring North Carolina-based Xerium Technologies for €670 million.
Leitner's initial wealth came from the 1995 sale of Pharmavit, the pharmaceutical company he founded to Genericon, for €81 million.
Reynold Geiger
Assets: €2.09 billion
Age: 76 years
Company: Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1
1104th in the Forbes list of world's billionaires
Reinold Geiger heads the French cosmetics company L'Occitane, which sells beauty products inspired by the region of Provence to customers around the world. Since investing in the company in 1994, Geiger has overseen the global expansion of L'Occitane, which now includes 3,400 stores in 90 countries.
L'Occitane was the first French company to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange when its shares debuted in 2010. In September 2021, Geiger stepped down as CEO after more than 25 years at the helm of the beauty company, but remains chairman and managing director.
Personally, he owns a ski chalet in the Alps, a beach house on Ile de Re in the Atlantic, and a house in Trancoso, Brazil.
Helmut Somann
Assets: €5.9 billion
Age: 84 years
Company: BW Group
432nd in the Forbes list of the world's billionaires
Helmut Sohmann headed shipping giant BW Group for 28 years before stepping down in 2014 and handing the reins to his son Andreas. The Austrian national has lived in Hong Kong for decades and is married to Anna Pui Hing Bao, the eldest daughter of the late shipping tycoon YK Bao.
He supports a scholarship program for Chinese law students studying at his alma mater, Southern Methodist University in Texas. His billionaire brother-in-law Peter Wu owns Hong Kong-based real estate firm Wheelock & Co.
Johann Graf
Assets: €6.7 billion
Age: 77 years
Company: Novomatic Group
385th place on Forbes list of world's billionaires
Johann Graf is the owner of the Novomatic Group, which operates casinos worldwide and sells slot machines, video poker games and electronic table games.
Growing up with his grandparents in a small apartment with no running water, he ended up training at a butcher's shop to literally take over his family's butcher shop. Instead, Graff began importing American pinball machines to Austria via Belgium and later became an agent for a British company that made slot machines.
In 1980 he went into business with Novomatic, which he quickly expanded into Switzerland and then into the East after the fall of the Iron Curtain.
George St
Assets: €11.8 billion
Age: 51 years
Company: Stumpf Group
156th in the Forbes list of the world's billionaires
Austrian developer and investor Georg Stumpf founded the Stumpf Group in 1994 with a $35,000 loan from his father. Its biggest asset is Exyte, a high-tech EPC construction company based in Stuttgart, Germany, specializing in semiconductors.
In November 2022, Exyte announced it would sell a minority stake in the company to BDT Capital, a private equity group led by fellow billionaire Byron Trott.
Stump built the Millennium Tower, the tallest building in Vienna, and sold it to the German fund MCP in 2003.
He grew up with Carl Abildinger, who once played golf professionally on the European Tour and is now its vice president.
Mark Matschitz
Assets: €35.8 billion
Age: 31 years
Company: Red Bull
31st place on Forbes list of world's billionaires
Mark Matschitz is the only child of the late Austrian billionaire Dietrich Matschitz, who co-founded energy drink company Red Bull in 1987. After his father's death in October 2022 at the age of 78, he inherited his 49% stake in Red Bull.
Dietrich Matschitz co-founded Red Bull with Thai businessman Salio Yovidya († 2012); Jovidya's son Saul is also a billionaire today. Red Bull will sell 12.1 billion cans worldwide by 2023, enough to caffeinate every person on the planet.
After his father's death, Mark Matschitz stepped down as head of the company's organic division to focus on his role as a shareholder with sales of around €10 billion (2023 sales figures).
Complete “Forbes World's Billionaires List 2024” is available Here.
