31 Facts About Ingvar Kamprad

Feodor Ingvar Kamprad was a Swedish billionaire best known for founding IKEA, a multinational retail company specialising in furniture.

Ingvar Kamprad's mother was of Swedish origin, while his father was born in Germany and came to Sweden at age one with his parents.

Ingvar Kamprad's paternal grandfather Achim Erdmann Ingvar Kamprad was originally from Altenburger Land in Thuringia, and his paternal grandmother Franzisca Glatz was born in Radonitz in Bohemia in then-Austria-Hungary; they left Germany for Sweden in 1896.

The surname Ingvar Kamprad is a variant of "Kamerade" and dates back to the 14th century; in the 19th century the Ingvar Kamprad family had become wealthy estate owners in Thuringia.

Achim Ingvar Kamprad's mother was a distant relative of Paul von Hindenburg.

Ingvar Kamprad committed suicide a few years after Frans Feodor was born, leaving the farm to Franzisca and with time Franz Feodor.

Ingvar Kamprad lived on the farm with his parents, sister and grandmother from the age of 6.

Ingvar Kamprad visited his family's ancestral town in Thuringia and kept in contact with relatives there.

Ingvar Kamprad began to develop a business as a young boy.

Ingvar Kamprad started selling matches at the age of five.

Ingvar Kamprad found he could buy matches in bulk very cheaply in Stockholm, sell them individually at a low price, and still make a good profit.

When Ingvar Kamprad was 17, his father gave him a cash reward for succeeding in his studies.

Ingvar Kamprad attended Gothenburg's Handelsinstitut, now part of Hvitfeldtska Gymnasiet, from 1943 to 1945.

In 1943, when he was 17 Ingvar Kamprad founded IKEA at his uncle Ernst's kitchen table.

In June 2013, Ingvar Kamprad resigned from the board of Inter IKEA Holding SA and his youngest son Mathias Ingvar Kamprad replaced Per Ludvigsson as the chairman of the holding company.

Ingvar Kamprad retained little direct 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.

In June 2015, Ingvar Kamprad was listed as the eighth wealthiest person in the world in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with an estimated net worth of $58.7 billion.

Ingvar Kamprad worked with Swedish journalist Bertil Torekull on Leading by Design: The IKEA Story.

In 1994, the personal letters of the Swedish fascist Per Engdahl were made public, posthumously revealing that Ingvar Kamprad had joined Engdahl's pro-fascist New Swedish Movement in 1942, at age 16.

Ingvar Kamprad had raised funds and recruited members for the group, at least as late as September 1945.

Ingvar Kamprad devoted two chapters to his time in Nysvenska Rorelsen in his book Leading by Design: The IKEA Story and, in a 1994 letter to IKEA employees, called his affiliation with the organization the "greatest mistake of my life".

Ingvar Kamprad explained his teenage engagement in New Swedish Movement as being politically influenced by his father and grandmother in Sudet-Germany.

Ingvar Kamprad lived in Epalinges, Switzerland, from 1976 to 2014.

Ingvar Kamprad moved back to Smaland in Sweden in March 2014 after nearly forty years away.

In 2004, he said that his drinking was under control, and according to The New York Times, Ingvar Kamprad "controlled it by drying out three times a year".

Ingvar Kamprad reportedly recycled tea bags and was known to keep the salt and pepper packets in restaurants.

Ingvar Kamprad had been known to visit IKEA for a "cheap meal", and was known for his frugal behaviour; purchasing wrapping paper and presents in post-Christmas sales.

Ingvar Kamprad had named his sons as the sole heirs of an entity called the Ikano Group, which is valued at US$1.5 billion.

Ingvar Kamprad's adopted daughter Annika was planned to receive about $300,000.

Ingvar Kamprad died in his sleep of pneumonia at his home in Smaland, Sweden, on 27 January 2018 at the age of 91.

Ingvar Kamprad reportedly wanted to develop Norrland and make it possible for young people to live there.