Horst Paulmann Kemna (born 22 March 1935) is a German-Chilean

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

entrepreneur. He is founder and chairman of

Cencosud Cencosud S.A. is a publicly traded multinational retail company. It's the largest retail company in Chile and the third largest listed retail company in Latin America, competing with the Brazilian Companhia Brasileira de Distribuição and the M ...

, the largest retail chain in Chile and the third largest in Latin America. According to ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'', as of July 2022 his net worth is estimated at US$2.3 billion.

Early life

In 1946, Horst Paulmann and his family, consisting of his parents and seven siblings, emigrated from Germany after the end of World War II. They crossed the Alps towards Italy, continued on to Argentina in 1948, and finally to Chile in 1950. At the age of 13, Paulmann worked as a telephone operator in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

and later worked making wooden toys. His family settled in the city of

Temuco Temuco () is a city and commune, capital of the Cautín Province and of the Araucanía Region in southern Chile. The city is located south of Santiago. The city grew out from a fort of the same name established in 1881 during Chile's invasion ...

in the south of Chile, and his father got a position as a franchisee at Club Alemán and at Club de La Unión. In 1952, Paulmann's family bought a local restaurant called Las Brisas and they soon transformed it into a supermarket. Since then and after the death of his father, Horst and his brother Jürgen Paulmann built a series of supermarket chains, beginning with the first hypermarket, located on Av. Kennedy. It measured 4,000 square meters and would become the foundation of the holding company

Career

was founded by Horst Paulmann on 10 November 1978 when he assumed the role of CEO and chairman. Cencosud employs more than 150,000 people in Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and Peru, where it operates its supermarket chains (such as

Jumbo Jumbo (about December 25, 1860 – September 15, 1885), also known as Jumbo the Elephant and Jumbo the Circus Elephant, was a 19th-century male African bush elephant born in Sudan. Jumbo was exported to Jardin des Plantes, a zoo in Paris, and t ...

, Santa Isabel,

Disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

, Vea, Gbarbosa, Prezunic, Bretas, Perini,

Wong Wong may refer to: Name * Wong (surname), a Chinese surname Places * Wong Chuk Hang, an area to the east of Aberdeen on Hong Kong Island * Wong Chuk Hang Estate, a public housing estate in Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong * Wong Chuk Hang Road, a ...

and ); department stores (such as París and Johnson's); home improvement stores (such as Easy and Blaisten); commercial centers and credit stores (with over 4.3 million credit cards issued). One of his projects is the complex

Costanera Center The Costanera Center is a business and commercial complex that includes a six-floor shopping mall, the Gran Torre Santiago and three other skyscrapers – two high-end hotels and an office building. The complex is located in the commune of Provid ...

, which includes the tallest tower in South America, measuring 300 meters, a six-story mall, a hotel, and office towers. In 2004, Cencosud began trading its shares on the

Santiago Stock Exchange The Santiago Stock Exchange (SSE) ( es, Bolsa de Comercio de Santiago), founded on November 27, 1893, is Chile's dominant stock exchange, and the third largest stock exchange in Latin America, behind Brazil's BM&F Bovespa, and the Bolsa Mexicana ...

, and on the

NYSE The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the List of stock exchanges, world's largest s ...

starting in 2011. The Paulmann family is the main shareholder of

. Manfred, Peter and Heike Paulmann Koepfer have represented Cencosud in its directory and are part of the agreement of the board of directors, which was formed for the succession of the president in the conduct of the company.

Other activities

Paulmann is the president of the Argentina–Chile Permanent Binational Business Board and a member of Argentine Business Association. In the past, he was director of the Chilean–German Chamber of Commerce and the Chilean Chamber of Commerce.

Awards

* Entrepreneur of the Year Diario Financiero (2012) * World Entrepreneur of The Year 2012, by

Ernst & Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewaterh ...

(2012) * Konex Awards, Service and Commerce Entrepreneur (2008) * Member of The Year, Chilean–German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (2007) * University Extension Award,

Universidad Mayor Universidad Mayor is a private university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded in 1988. Foundation, Growth and Development (1988-2015) Universidad Mayor opened its first academic programs in 1988 with bachelor's degrees in Architecture and Engine ...

(2006) * People and Development of Distinction Award granted during the Percade Congress (2006) * Chilean citizenship by grace (2005) * ICARE Award, Entrepreneur of the Year (2005) * ASA Salvador D’Anna Award for best retail entrepreneur of the year - Argentina (2005) * Decoration from Orden de Mayo for his degree of Commander - Argentina (2004) * Diego Portales Award for outstanding entrepreneur (2004)

Personal life

He had three children with Helga Koepfer: Manfred, Peter and Heike.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paulmann, Horst Living people 1935 births German emigrants to Chile Chilean businesspeople Chilean billionaires People from Santiago Naturalized citizens of Chile