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INGVAR KAMPRAD
Ingvar Feodor Kamprad (born March 30, 1926) is a Swedish entrepreneur who is the founder of the home furnishing retail chain IKEA. As of 2007 he is the richest person in Europe and the 4th richest person in the world according to Forbes magazine, with an estimated net worth of around US$33 billion.
Kamprad was born on a farm called Elmtaryd (now spelled Älmtaryd), near the small village of Agunnaryd of the Ljungby municipality in the province of Småland, Sweden. Kamprad began to develop a business as a young boy, selling matches to neighbors from his bicycle. He found that he could buy matches in bulk very cheaply from Stockholm, sell them individually at a low price and still make a good profit. From matches, he expanded to selling fish, Christmas tree decorations, seeds and later ball-point pens and pencils. When Kamprad was 17, his father gave him a reward for succeeding in his studies. He used this money to establish what has grown into IKEA.
The acronym IKEA is made up of the initials of his name (Ingvar Kamprad) plus those of Elmtaryd, the family farm where he was born; and the nearby village Agunnaryd.
According to Swedish business weekly Veckans Affärer[8], he is the wealthiest person in the world. This report is based on the assumption that Kamprad owns the entire company, an approach that both IKEA and the Kamprad family reject. Kamprad personally retains little ownership in the company, having transferred his interest to Stichting INGKA Foundation and INGKA Holding as part of a complex tax sheltering scheme that leaves his actual degree of control vague.
Forbes magazine continues to rank Bill Gates at #1, ranking Kamprad at #4. It was in the aftermath of the Veckans Affärer article that Kamprad advanced from #12 to his current position in Forbes. According to the German T-Online, Kamprad is the 4th richest person in the world, with US$53 Billion. As at March 2005, the sliding value of the U.S. dollar put Kamprad ahead as the richest person in the world in another report. In March 2007, Forbes magazine estimated his fortune at US$33 billion.
Kamprad has lived in Epalinges, Switzerland since 1976.