IKEA Founder Steps Aside
IKEA Founder Steps Aside
IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad has left the parent company of the furniture brand and his son has been appointed chairman, representing the latest step in the 87-year-old billionaire's continuing handoff of power.
Mr. Kamprad, who founded IKEA in 1943, is vacating his Inter IKEA Holding board seat but will remain a "senior advisor" and continue to "spend time in the stores and in the factories," according to a statement issued by the company. "I see this as a good time for me to leave the board of Inter IKEA Group," Mr. Kamprad said in the statement.
Inter IKEA Holding SA is owned by a foundation based in Liechtenstein and is the main holding company in IKEA's complex corporate structure. The Ingka holding company, for instance, is a separate entity operating about 300 IKEA furniture stores world-wide.
Mathias Kamprad, 44, was already a director of the Inter IKEA board and he now replaces chairman Per Ludvigsson, who will step down. Mr. Ludvigsson is 70 years old.
Mr. Kamprad's three sons have pursued careers at IKEA, but remained mostly out of the spotlight.
The eldest son, Peter Kamprad, has been working in IKEA's purchasing and retail operation and now chairs Luxembourg-based property and banking company Ikano, which manages the multi-billion-dollar Kamprad family fortune. His brother Jonas Kamprad, a former IKEA furniture designer, sits on the board of the Ingka holding company.
Mathias Kamprad is the youngest brother. His appointment to chairman of Inter IKEA comes after a period of speculation over whether Mr. Kamprad might prefer to appoint someone from outside the family to succeed him as head of the complex IKEA organization. The speculation was drawn out as it took years for the sons to gain high-profile positions in the company.
Inter IKEA said the shift had been "prepared for and continuing for some years."
Source: WSJ
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