New billionaire Swarovski surfaces with crystal fortune
VIENNA. January 26. KAZINFORM Outside the Swarovski museum in Wattens, Austria, a giant, verdant head with crystal eyes and a waterfall mouth guards the entrance to 14 underground chambers of precision cut gems, including the world's largest.
The museum, financed by closely held D. Swarovski KG, the world's leading producer of cut crystal, embodies the company's 117-year struggle between its desire to operate in secrecy and its need for publicity. Founder Daniel Swarovski settled in this Alpine town of 8,000 to hide his proprietary cutting technology from rivals. A century later, a splashy push into retailing and designer fashion has made his great-grandson, Gernot Langes- Swarovski, a billionaire.
"They have established themselves in a high-end market and are still affordable," said Reinhard Berger, president of Liechtenstein-based investment company Valluga AG, which compiles an annual report on Austrian, German and Swiss wealth, in a telephone interview. "This is luxury for the masses and the key to their success has been the strength of their brand."
Swarovski Group had revenue of 2.87 billion euros ($4 billion) in 2011, according to its website, up from 2.25 billion euros in 2009. Almost 80 percent of its business is derived from crystal sales, half of which comes from partnerships with fashion designers. Retail sales, a business that has been expanding since opening its first boutiques in 1998, made up the other half of crystal sales. Two other business lines -- precision cutting and lenses -- made up the balance of the revenue, Bloomberg reports.
Largest shareholder
Ownership of the company is shared by as many as 100 family members, Berger said. According to Orbis, a database of company information published by Bureau van Dijk, the largest stake -- 21 percent -- is held by Langes-Swarovski, 69, who was the company's public face for 35 years until 2002, and who remains on the advisory board representing family shareholders and influencing strategy.
Swarovski's stake, which he controls through the Segnal Beteiligungs GmbH, is worth $1.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He has never appeared on an international wealth ranking.
"Gernot is the major shareholder of Swarovski," Berger said. "His son now controls daily operations, but in terms of strategy he is the informal head of the clan. They have a smaller group of family members who decide on strategy and he's in charge of supervising its implementation."
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