As a country known for low taxes, the alpine nation has a habit of attracting the world's wealthiest people: a new report from the magazine Bilanz has revealed exactly who the richest people in Switzerland are in 2023. The top spot was occupied by an infamously private entrepreneur resident in Geneva, who has amassed an eye-watering fortune of up to 41 billion francs.
According to estimates made by the magazine, the richest person resident in Switzerland is Gérard Wertheimer, French co-owner of the luxury brand Chanel. He is known to be a resident of Cologny, Geneva.
Since taking first spot from the Hoffmann-Oeri-Duschmalé family in 2022, the man has seen his fortune expand from between 38 and 39 billion francs last year to up to 41 billion francs today. This growth was mainly because Chanel ended last year with a net profit of 4,6 billion dollars, meaning Gérard and his brother and other co-owner Alain were able to receive dividends of around 1,67 billion francs each.
Gérard is known for possessing a large collection of art, race horses and a large vineyard. Despite the visibility of the Chanel brand, both brothers are known to avoid the public eye as much as possible, refusing interviews and often sitting in the third and fourth rows of their own fashion shows. According to Blick, this has earned them the title of the “most quiet billionaires in the fashion industry.”
Second place was taken by the Hoffmann-Oeri-Duschmalé family with an estimated fortune of between 26 and 27 billion francs - a decline of around 4 billion francs compared to last year. The founders of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche, apart from their business dealings the family are known for their extensive art collection and their appearances at events across Switzerland.
Rounding out the podium was German entrepreneur Klaus Michael Kühne with a fortune of between 24 and 25 billion francs - an increase of 4 billion compared to last year. The resident of Canton Schwyz is the head of the transport and logistics firm Kühne+Nagel, and is also a shareholder in the maritime company Hapag-Lloyd and the airline Lufthansa.
For perspective, in 2022 a study from the World Inequality Database revealed that the richest 10 percent in Switzerland own 63 percent of the country's wealth. While this is less than averages for Latin America (77 percent), Asia (71 percent) and North America (70 percent), it is 5 percent higher than the European average.
In all, here are the 10 richest people and families in Switzerland as of 2023 (in billions of francs):
To see who else made the list, and for specific articles on each, check out the Bilanz article (paid piece).