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Johann Rupert Biography

Johann Rupert’s Biography, Age, Career, & Net Worth is what you will read and know about in this article.

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Johann Peter Rupert (born 1 June 1950) is a South African billionaire businessman, who is the eldest son of business tycoon Anton Rupert and his wife Huberte. He is the chairman of the Swiss-based luxury goods company Richemont and the South Africa-based company Remgro. Since April 2010, he has been the CEO of Compagnie Financiere Richemont and the richest man in South Africa

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Johann Rupert Biography, Age, Career, & Net Worth

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Biography

South African billionaire businessman, who is the eldest son of business tycoon Anton Rupert and his wife Huberte.

Age

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born 1 June 1950,72 years

Personal Life

Rupert grew up in Stellenbosch, where he attended Paul Roos Gymnasium and the University of Stellenbosch, studying economics and company law. He dropped out of the university to pursue a career in business, however, in 2004, the university awarded him an honorary doctorate in Economics.

In 2008, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. Described as “reclusive” by the Financial Times and Barron’s, Rupert rarely gives interviews and shuns public events. In 2006 the same newspaper also called him “Rupert the Bear” for predicting a world economic crisis.

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Rupert has declared his sympathy for and belief in the idea of a universal basic income

Born 1 June 1950 (age 72)

Stellenbosch, Cape Province, Union of South Africa
Alma mater Stellenbosch University
Occupation Chairman of Compagnie Financiere Richemont SA
Known for Luxury goods
Spouse Gaynor Rupert
Children 3
Parent Anton and Huberte Rupert

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Business career

Rupert served his business apprenticeship in New York City, where he worked for Chase Manhattan for two years and for Lazard Freres for three years. He then returned to South Africa in 1979 and founded Rand Merchant Bank of which he was CEO.

  • 1984: Merged RMB and Rand Consolidated Investments, forming RMB Holdings, and left to join his father’s company, the Rembrandt Group.
  • 1988 Founded Compagnie Financiere Richemont in 1988 and was appointed Non-Executive Director of Rothmans International plc in 1988. He was named “Businessman of the Year” by the Sunday Times in the same year.
  • 1989: Appointed Vice Chairman of the Rembrandt Group.
  • 1990: Named business leader of the year by Die Burger newspaper and the Cape Town Chamber of Commerce. Formed Richemont subsidiary Vendôme Luxury Group SA.
  • 1991: Appointed Chairman of Rembrandt Group Limited and in 1992 he was named one of 200 “Global Leaders of Tomorrow” by the World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland.
  • 1993: Received the M.S. Louw Award from the A.H.I. (“Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut”).
  • 1996: Named Sunday Times Business Times’s Businessman of the Year for the second time.
  • 1997: Appointed Non-Executive Chairman of Gold Fields South Africa Ltd.
  • 1999: Awarded the 1999 Free Market Award by The Free Market Foundation of South Africa.
  • 2000: Restructured Rembrandt Group Limited and formed Remgro Limited and VenFin Limited. Appointed Chairman and Chief Executive of Compagnie Financière Richemont SA. Voted “Most Influential Business Leader” in South Africa by CEOs of top 100 Listed Companies
  • 2004: Awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Economics by the University of Stellenbosch.
  • 2008 Voted South Africa’s Business Leader of the Year by the CEOs of the Top 100 Companies, for the third time.
  • 2009 Appointed “Officier” of the French “Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur” by the President of the French Republic
  • Selected as the 2009 International Wine Entrepreneur of the Year at the Meininger “Excellence in Wine and Spirit” awards ceremony in Düsseldorf, Germany
  • 2009: Appointed Chancellor of Stellenbosch University
  • 2010 Made Honorary Vice President of the European Golf Tour
  • Awarded honorary doctorate by the University of St Andrews, Scotland

Company Owned: 

Johann Rupert is chairman of Swiss luxury goods firm Compagnie Financiere Richemont. The company is best known for the brands Cartier and Montblanc. It was formed in 1998 through a spinoff of assets owned by Rembrandt Group Limited (now Remgro Limited), which his father Anton formed in the 1940s.

Net Worth

Johann Rupert estimated net worth is US$7.1 billion

More About Rupert

Rupert is a former cricketer and founded the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation in 1990. Laureus funds 65 projects globally, with the goal of using sport to tackle social issues, having a particular emphasis on underprivileged children. He co-founded the Sports Science Institute with his friends Morne du Plessis and Tim Noakes. Rupert also developed the Gary Player-designed, Leopard Creek Golf Club in Mpumalanga, South Africa which is one of South Africa’s top three golf courses and rated number 25 outside the United States of America (Golf Digest). He has also played in the annual Gary Player Invitational golf tournament to assist fellow South African and friend Gary Player raise funds for various children’s charities. He serves as Chairman of the South African PGA Tour and Chairman of the South African Golf Development Board. In 2007 he was elected into the South African Sports Hall of Fame and in 2009 was inducted into the South African Golf Hall of Fame.

Following his younger brother Anthonij’s death in a car accident in 2001 he took over the L’Ormarins wine estate. Anthonij was head of Rupert & Rothschild Vignerons. Rupert initiated a project to enhance the farm in memory of his late brother.

He was a council member of The South Africa Foundation and trustee of the Southern African Nature Foundation, The Institute of Directors in Southern Africa, Business South Africa and Die Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns and Managing Trustee and member of the investment committee, Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. He served on the Daimler Chrysler International Advisory Board.

Following in the footsteps of his father, Anton, Johann Rupert is also a committed conservationist. In addition to conserving about 25,000 hectares in the Graaff Reinet area, he is also Chairman of the Peace Parks Foundation.

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