Karl Wlaschek
Karl Wlaschek (* August 4, 1917 in Vienna) is the founder of the Austrian retail chain Billa. Since selling his company BML Asset Management Inc. ( " Billa Group" ), he has worked as a real estate investor. According to Forbes Magazine applies Wlaschek 2012 by Johann Graf and Dietrich Mateschitz, the third- richest Austrians.
Life
After the Second World War Wlaschek was initially under the pseudonym " Charlie Walker " worked as a bar pianist and bandleader. He has performed, among others, in Kitzbühel and the Schlosshotel Velden. His former dream to run their own dance cafe, he could not realize due to lack of sufficient funds.
Opened in 1953 Karl Wlaschek but in Vienna and offered Margaret a perfumery brand products at discount prices to. As a result, WKW grew ( trade in goods Karl Wlaschek ) and comprised 45 branches by 1960. Wlaschek transferred the concept to the food trade, introduced the self-service system and called his stores from 1961 BILLA ( for "Cheaper Charging").
In the 1990s, Euro Billa expanded abroad. In 1996 Wlaschek sold for 1.1 billion euros at that time under the BML Asset Management Inc. ( " Billa Group") operating under the name of the German group Rewe Group. The merger was shown in July 1996 at the European Commission and approved by August.
Wlaschek has since been mainly active in the real estate industry:
After he failed, in the privatization of Creditanstalt ( the then second largest bank in Austria ) to get to the train, Wlaschek began his fortune in real estate to create. Its real estate portfolio is managed in private foundations with names like Amisola, Estrella and Ermione. It comprises eight palace in the center of Vienna ( including Kinsky, Ferstel, Harrach ), but also the office towers Andromeda Tower and Ares Tower (both are part of the Danube City ), the building of the Vienna Stock Exchange, and many indoor townhouses - in total more than 100 properties in Austria.
Karl Wlaschek got married in April 2012 for the fifth time; He has been divorced three times and once widowed. He has two children from his first and second marriages. A legendary quote from him is: " When G'schäft am i guat in de wives am ia dork. "
In December 2005 Wlaschek was in a radio broadcast as a guest. On the specified part of a questionnaire beginning of the sentence " It hurts me when ... " he concluded with the words: " ... if the Leut ' say i am a Jew. Bin ka Jew. " In a commentary the daily newspaper Der Standard was subsequently criticized that this statement " had been previously recorded and cut, but quite uncritically and without commentary aired. "
His fortune is estimated at about 4.7 billion euros ( according to Forbes List 2012) - making it the third richest native Austrian.
In November 2005, published Adolf Haslinger, formerly rector of the University of Salzburg and longtime friend Wlascheks, an authorized biography.