Local, Private and Settled - German Wealth
Our new piece of research shows that Germany is home to 123 billionaires. These come mainly from manufacturing, food products and retail, and have a combined net worth of EUR 368 billion. The country ranks fourth on the global Ultra Wealth charts, behind the US, China and the UK.
Germany is a fascinating, varied and beautiful country. Although her brands dominate the world like the Colossus did Rhodes harbour, German wealth is local and broadly German, as opposed to the United Kingdom where more than half the ultra-wealthy are foreign.
In fact, over 85% of Germany’s billionaires’ primary businesses are privately held, which explains in part why wealth is relatively neatly spread out across the country with a few concentration points such as Cologne, Hamburg and Munich. (In Germany, there seems to be little evidence of that shareholder value concept we heard about so often in MBA classes).
However, outside Berlin, there are no Ultra Wealthy in Eastern Germany, a lasting legacy from the Cold War and beyond. This, however, might change as the East draws in an increasing number of start-ups.
Interestingly, only a quarter of Germany’s Ultra Wealthy built their fortunes from scratch, while the rest of the country’s billionaire inherited a significant portion of their wealth. As a comparison, on average, about 60% of the world’s Ultra Wealth is self-made. Finally, German billionaires tend to be older than the mean.
These last two points - ageing and wealth preservation over wealth creation - might give us an idea about what macro challenges Germany might be facing in the medium to long term.
Follow the link for a regional and international breakdown: