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Karl Albrecht

Karl Albrecht is a Germany based entrepreneur who founded chain of supermarkets which offer discounts. He and his brother Theo Albrecht jointly launched the Aldi project which is successful business. Karl Albrecht is one of the wealthiest person in the world with a wealth roughly calculated to $ 23.5 billion. He is ranked tenth in the world by Forbes and the richest in the Germany.

Karl Albrecht was born on 20th February, 1920. He and his brother Theo Albrecht had a good upbringing and comfortable life. Their father worked in a mine and later on he served as an assistant to a banker. Their mother played an important part in their achievements. She was an owner of a small grocery shop which was at the workers’ place of Schonnebeck.

This maternal store of Albrecht brothers was expanded to make Aldi supermarkets. Theo worked in his mother’s store whereas; Karl served in German Army at the time of World War II. After the war when the Nazis conquered, Theo and Karl took over their maternal business and in the year 1961 they opened their first Aldi store. Both of them divided their territory and Karl took the southern area where he established Aldi Sud and Theo took the northern area where he established Aldi Nord.

Karl Albrecht purchased a golf course for his personal use in 1976 as he has keen interest in playing golf. His golf course is situated at his home area and is famous with the name of Oschberghof. He has several other interests and hobbies .He is also fond of Orchids which are a unique kind of flowers. According to some people, he raises these beautiful flowers in his personal lawns. He also possesses a huge compilation of antique typewriters.

Karl Albrecht took over the chairman of the board seat of Aldi Sud in 1994. He removed himself from the operational functions before taking over this post. Eight years after, he resigned from the chairman post and quit from all the controls of his company. He or any member of his family has no control over his company on this present day. Although, Aldi chains of supermarkets have expanded to global markets and have achieved new heights. These days Aldi supermarkets are competing with American supermarkets such as Walmart, UK companies such as Tesco and with European firms like Carrefour. Aldi Nord and Alsi Sud cover around 66 regions with around 4,100 stores.