Who are the richest Swiss on the planet?

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index, published a few days ago once again crowned Amazon’s patron, Jeff Bezos, at the top of the list of the richest people in the world with 190 billion dollars: this year he made 75 billion with his e-commerce giant that has benefited from the closures of stores in the period of lockdown due to the coronavirus. Second in the ranking is the now habitual for years Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, with 120 billion; while in third place is classified Mark Zuckerberg, who has entered the restricted circle of personal assets that exceed 100 billion dollars this year. On the contrary, Bernard Arnault, at the helm of the luxury giant LVMH, has instead left the group of ‘hundred billionaires’. His fortune is estimated at just 81 billion.

But who are the Swiss who are part of this enviable elite of 500 billionaires gathered annually by Bloomberg? Well there are nine of them, five of which are part of two famous families active in the industrial and pharmaceutical sectors.

Who are the richest Swiss on the planet?

1. Ernesto Bertarelli: with assets of 18.6 billion, Bertarelli is the richest Swiss in the world and, with his 71st place, he is also the only red-cross in the top 100 of the index in question. The entrepreneur born in Rome in 1965 and naturalised Swiss was CEO of the multinational active in the field of pharmaceutical biotechnology Serono SA, with the bulk of the proceeds reinvested through the Genevan family company Waypoint, whose assets include commercial properties in London and Switzerland and through a technology-oriented venture capital fund, Forestay Capital. However, Ernesto Bertarelli is best known as the founder in 1994 of the Alinghi team, whose name derives from the family boats that sailed in the regatta fields of the Tuscan coast.

2. Magdalena Martullo-Blocher: in 247th place in the ranking is the daughter of the historic face of the Swiss Democratic Party Christoph Blocher. 51. year old Magdalena Blocher, married to Martullo, has followed in her father’s footsteps both in politics and in the business sector. Vice-president of the party, Martullo-Blocher has held several important positions for Johnson & Johnson, Rivella and for the Ems group, managed by his family for decades, where he still holds the role of vice president of the board of directors and chief executive officer. The company manufactures and markets chemicals for the automotive, textile and transportation industries such as high-performance polymers, fine chemicals, coatings and sealants. The assets of Blocher’s eldest daughter amount to $ 7.8 billion.

3. Hansjoerg Wyss: slightly surpassing half of the Bloomberg index, in 254th place, we find Hansjoerg Wyss. Born in 1935, the Bernese engineer, entrepreneur and philanthropist has lived for years in the United States, in the State of Wyoming, and has long served as CEO of the Swiss company active in the field of biomedical engineering Synthes. Wyss also created the foundation of the same name which aims to preserve natural environments, including public lands in vast territories such as the Western United States, Africa, South America and South Australia and in 2009 contributed to the establishment of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. His assets according to Bloomberg are $ 6.7 billion.

4. Rahel Blocher: in 4th place among the Swiss and 258th worldwide, we find Magdalena’s younger sister, Rahel Blocher. Like her two sisters and brother, she too owes her fortune to Ems. Unlike her older sister, Rahel, born in 1976, however, is not actively involved in the company’s activities but instead directs the Robinvest company, also founded by her father, and sits on the foundation board of the Schweizer Musikinsel Rheinau. Her assets are slightly lower than those of her sister and are around 7.6 billion dollars.

5. Gianluigi Aponte: owner and entrepreneur, in 1969 he bought his first ship, thus giving life to the Aponte Shipping Company, which in 1970 became the Mediterranean Shipping Company SA (MSC). Gianluigi Aponte - 80 years old of Sorrento origin - is today the 357th richest man in the world according to the Bloomberg Index and the 5th Swiss in the ranking with just under 6 billion dollars.

6. André Hoffmann: born in 1958, vice president of Hoffmann-La Roche and great-grandson of Fritz Hoffmann-La Roche who founded the pharmaceutical company Roche Holding in 1896. With assets of 5.9 billion dollars, André Hoffmann is 370th richest man on the planet.

7. Maja Hoffmann: the scion of the La Roche household, however, is in good company, followed with a small gap by his sisters, who are also shareholders in the company. In fact, in 396th place is Maja Hoffmann, born in 1956, who, rather than the interest in the pharmaceutical industry inherited from her brother, made her paternal grandmother’s passion her own, becoming also a collector and patron of art and president of the LUMA Foundation which supports the activities of independent artists and other professionals working in the fields of art, photography, publishing, documentary and multimedia. Its assets amount to $ 5.6 billion.

8. Vera Michalski-Hoffmann: the eldest of the Hoffmann children, 66 years old, with a balance practically equal to that of her sister Maja and slightly younger than her brother André (or 5.6 billion), the publisher and philanthropist Vera Michalski it is placed at 397th step of the world ranking and at 8th than the national one.

9. Thomas Schmidheiny: Thomas Schmidheiny closes the list of Swiss among the 500 richest in the Bloomberg index, 9. among the Swiss and 469. on the list with assets of 4.8 billion dollars. The 75-year-old, one of the main shareholders of Lafarge-Holcim, was until 2018 on the Board of Directors of the world’s largest cement group founded by great-grandfather Jacob Schmidheiny in 1867.

FIVE ITALIANS ON THE LIST

1. Giovanni Ferrero: in 28th place is the first Italian in the index, that is the CEO of the confectionery industry Ferrero who at 55 has a wealth of 33.2 billion dollars.

2. Leonardo del Vecchio: the 85 year old founder and president of Luxottica and executive chairman of EssilorLuxottica, the world’s largest eyewear and lens manufacturer and seller, boasts assets of around 20.3 billion and is 59. on a scale world.

3. Paolo Rocca: the Italian-Argentine born in 1952 is CEO of Tenaris and Techint, with its 8.2 billion, at 232 step in the Bloomberg index.

4. Silvio Berlusconi: Il Cavaliere, born in 1936, needs no introduction. Its assets are around 7.2 billion dollars, placing it in 271st place in the world.

5. Giorgio Armani: the last Italian on the list is the famous designer from Piacenza who, with his 6.2 billion, occupies 331st place in the index.