Visiting Switzerland’s Billionaires
One of the interesting phenomena tourists can discover in Switzerland are its billionaires.
Andy Warhol once glibly remarked, ‘Oh I adore Switzerland – it’s clean and everybody’s rich!’
Switzerland adores its wealthy too, so much so that it makes up special tax laws for them. Switzerland has some of the most colorful billionaires on the planet and some of them even are listed in the phone book.
The fortunes (total net worth) of the 300 richest Swiss exceed 25% of the GNP of the country.
At the top of Switzerland’s list of wealthy is Ingvar Kamprad, Swedish tax exile and the founder and proprietor of the Ikea chain. Kamprad’s personal fortune is roughly $32 billion (putting him 4th on the world list). Despite his mountains of wealth, he continues to drive a simple old car and shop at cheap supermarkets. Tales of his thriftiness 
abound in the local press. He lives economically in the canton of Vaud and a few tour operators include his house on their curiosity circuits.
Next after Ingvar comes the Oeri and Hoffman family, with $16 billion, who control the Roche group, a pharmaceutical giant which is the envy of drug dealers worldwide. And in third position, the Brenninkmeijer family ($14 billion), owners of the C&A department store chain.
Ernesto Bertarelli is another high ranker (6th), with about $10 billion. His lake Geneva coastal manor can be rubbernecked from a cheap peddle boat rentable from any Geneva marina, as can Michael Schumacher’s residence (about $1 billion).
The richest woman in Switzerland is Charlene Carvalho-Heineken –she’s worth $6 billion—and is heir to the brewery fortune.
The tourist office in Berne has a ‘billionaires map’ of Switzerland with little sacks of gold highlighting the residences of the 100 wealthiest residents and is trying to start a tourist itinerary, ‘tea with a billionaire,’ in which tourists can purchase the opportunity to share a 15-minute tea with one of Switzerland’s billionaires.
