Stefan Quandt

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person Stefan Quandt (born 9 May 1966) is a German billionaire heir, engineer and industrialist. As of December 2024, Forbes estimated his net worth at US$21.6 billion,<ref name="Forbes profile">Template:Cite web</ref> ranked at number 89 on Bloomberg Billionaires Index.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Early life

Quandt was born in Bad Homburg to Herbert Quandt, a German industrialist and prominent Nazi,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Johanna Quandt. He earned a degree from the University of Karlsruhe where he studied economics and engineering,<ref name="Forbes profile"/> from 1987 to 1993.

Career

From 1993–1994, Quandt worked for the Boston Consulting Group in Munich. From 1994 to 1996 he worked for Datacard Group of Minneapolis as a marketing manager in Hong Kong.

BMW

On his father's death in 1982 Quandt inherited 17.4% of BMW,<ref>BMW Group : BMW AG share & dept : Shareholder structure</ref> the company his father had saved from bankruptcy in 1959. From further purchases he later owned 23.7% of the company.<ref name="Forbes profile"/> In 1997, he joined the company's supervisory board.<ref>Ulrike Dauer and Sarah Sloat (5 August 2015), German Heiress Johanna Quandt Dies at 89 Wall Street Journal.</ref>

Following his mother’s death in 2015, Quandt’s voting stake in BMW temporarily increased to 34.19 percent, above a 30 percent threshold which triggered a compulsory takeover offer under German rules.<ref name=":0">Edward Taylor (11 August 2015), BMW heir Stefan Quandt asks for exemption from takeover bid rule Reuters.</ref> He subsequently asked the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) to be excused from these rules.<ref name=":0" /> In 2018, Quandt became BMW’s largest single shareholder when his direct ownership increased with shares inherited from his mother, giving him a so-called “blocking stake” of 25.83 percent, worth 13.4 billion euros ($16.6 billion).<ref>Edward Taylor, Alexander Huebner and Irene Preisinger (20 February 2018), Stefan Quandt becomes BMW's most powerful shareholder Reuters.</ref> He currentlyTemplate:When is deputy chairman of the BMW supervisory board.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Delton

Quandt also inherited from his father substantial holdings in other companies, many of which he has been running through his holding company, Delton AG, since 1989. These include:

• 76.8% of CEAG, (small power supplies and recharging devices for mobile phones)
• 87.6% of Logwin AG (formerly Thiel Logistik, a logistics and freight forwarding company)<ref name=":1">Chris Reiter (20 June 2019), BMW Billionaire Heirs Say Their Lives Are Harder Than You Think Bloomberg Business.</ref>
• 100% of Biologische Heilmittel Heel GmbH, which makes homeopathic preparations<ref name=":1" />
• 100% of CeDo Household Products, which makes freezer bags, plastic and aluminium wraps and foils, bin liners, and coffee filters

With his mother, Quandt owned 18.3% of Gemplus International, a large digital security company, before its merger to form Gemalto in 2006.

Aqton

With a second holding company, Aqton SE, Quandt manages other investments, including in renewable energies:<ref>Handelsblatt: BMW Battery Baron at Full Power</ref>

• Heliatek, organic solar panels
• Solarwatt, manufacturer of PV panels, solar batteries and energy management solutions
• Kiwigrid, grid based renewable energy solution for utilities
• BHF, financial services<ref>Edward Taylor (29 July 2015), BHF shareholder AQTON: 5.10 eur offer from FOSUN too low Reuters.</ref>

Philanthropy

Through the non-profit Aqtivator, Quandt supports projects for children, youth, and families with a focus on education, integration, and equal opportunity.<ref>Christopher Stolz (10 June 2021), Das sind die fünf reichsten Menschen Deutschlands Der Tagesspiegel.</ref><ref>Dietmar Student and Martin Noé (20 June 2019), Susanne Klatten und Stefan Quandt im Interview: "Wer würde denn mit uns tauschen wollen?" Manager Magazin.</ref>

Other activities

Corporate boards

• Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2019)<ref>Christopher Stolz (10 June 2021), Das sind die fünf reichsten Menschen Deutschlands Der Tagesspiegel.</ref>
• Dresdner Bank, former Member of the Supervisory Board
• Gerling Konzern Allgemeine Versicherungs, former Member of the Supervisory Board

Non-profit organizations

• Friends of the Museum für Moderne Kunst, Chair of the Board (since 2015)<ref>Board Friends of the Museum für Moderne Kunst.</ref>
• Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2013)<ref>Supervisory Board Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).</ref>
• BMW Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees<ref>Board of Trustees BMW Foundation.</ref>
• Eberhard von Kuenheim Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees<ref>Board of Trustees Eberhard von Kuenheim Foundation.</ref>
• Johanna Quandt Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees<ref>Board of Trustees Johanna Quandt Foundation.</ref>
• Stiftung Charité, Member of the Board of Trustees<ref>Board of Trustees Stiftung Charité.</ref>

Political activities

Following the 2013 elections, Quandt – together with his mother and his sister – made donations to the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) totaling 690,000 euros.<ref>Alexandra Hudson (15 October 2013), BMW family donation to Merkel's party stokes lobbying row Reuters.</ref><ref>Anton Troianovski (15 October 2013), Timing of BMW Donation to Merkel's Party Draws Fire Wall Street Journal.</ref> Ahead of the 2017 elections, he gave 50,000 euros each to both the CDU and liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP).<ref>Cynthia Kroet and Joshua Posaner (1 August 2017), Auto giants help make Angela Merkel’s conservatives Germany’s top fundraisers Reuters.</ref>

Personal life

In autumn 2005, Quandt married Katharina, a software engineer. They have a daughter, born on New Year's Eve that same year. He generally keeps a low profile. They live in Frankfurt, Germany.<ref name="Forbes profile" />

The Silence of the Quandts

The Hanns-Joachim-Friedrichs-Award winning documentary film The Silence of the Quandts<ref name=Silence>Template:Youtube</ref><ref name="WSWS">Template:Cite web</ref> by the German public broadcaster ARD described in October 2007 the role of the Quandt family businesses during the Second World War. The family's Nazi past was not well known, but the documentary film revealed this to a wide audience and confronted the Quandts about the use of slave labourers in the family's factories during World War II. As a result, five days after the showing,<ref name="Independent">Template:Cite web</ref> 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 Adolf Hitler's dictatorship.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> The independent 1,200-page study researched and compiled by Bonn historian, Joachim Scholtyseck, that was released in 2011 concluded: "The Quandts were linked inseparably with the crimes of the Nazis".<ref name="Independent"/> Template:As of no compensation, apology or memorial at the site of one of their factories, have been permitted.<ref name="WSWS" /> BMW was not implicated in the report.<ref name="Independent"/>

External links

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