Juan Roig
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Juan Roig Alfonso (born 8 October 1949) is a Spanish
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 ...
businessman, president of
Mercadona Mercadona (, ) is a Spanish supermarket chain. Mercadona has 1,636 stores in all the 17 Spanish regions, Ceuta, Melilla and in Portugal. Mercadona was ranked the 9th most reputable company in the world in 2009, by the Reputation Institute as liste ...
, the Spanish supermarket chain. As of November 2021, his net worth was estimated at US$4.4 billion.


Early life

Juan Roig was born on 8 October 1949 in
Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
. He studied in a Jesuit school in Valencia, then at a boarding school, and graduated in economics at Valencia, but was not an outstanding student. Eight years after graduating, he studied a postgraduate at
IESE Business School IESE Business School is the graduate business school of the University of Navarra. Founded in 1958 in Barcelona where its main campus is located,López, T. & Pampliega, J“La fundación del IESE (1956–1958)” Universidad de Navarra, Biblioteca ...
,
University of Navarra , image = UNAV.svg , latin_name = Universitas Studiorum Navarrensis , established = 17 October 1952 , type = Private, Roman Catholic , chancellor = Fernando Ocáriz Braña , president = María Iraburu Eliz ...
. His parents ran a chain of eight butchers' shops (''Cárnicas Roig'') in
La Pobla de Farnals La Pobla de Farnals ( es, Puebla de Farnals) is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Horta Nord in the Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of ...
, later converted to grocery stores.


Business career

With three of his five brothers, Juan Roig bought the shops from his parents in 1981. He largely bought out his brothers in 1991, and went on to build up the Mercadona supermarket chain, which now runs over 1,400 stores. His success in retail has been based on a risky strategy of competitive pricing, and on technological innovations such as
barcode A barcode or bar code is a method of representing data in a visual, machine-readable form. Initially, barcodes represented data by varying the widths, spacings and sizes of parallel lines. These barcodes, now commonly referred to as linear or o ...
scanners and automated distribution facilities. He introduced full-time contracts for all employees in the late 1990s. Roig was awarded the Prince Felipe Prize for Business Excellence in 2010.


Personal wealth

''
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 ...
'' magazine in October 2013 reported that Roig was worth 5,800 million
euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
s, the second largest fortune in Spain. This in fact is the estimated value of the 78% stake in Mercadona jointly owned by himself and his wife. But since Mercadona shares are not publicly quoted, the figure is somewhat speculative. As of July 2018, ''Forbes'' estimated his net worth at US$4.3 billion. The shareholding yielded
dividend A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, it is able to pay a portion of the profit as a dividend to shareholders. Any amount not distributed is taken to be re-in ...
income totalling over $400 million between 2006 and 2013 for Roig and his wife jointly. In August 2022, Roig's net worth was estimated to be around US$3.5 billion (according to Forbes).


Personal life

At university he met Hortensia Herrero, and they married in 1973. They have four children, and live in Valencia, Spain. His wife is now vice-president of Mercadona. He is said to favour family ownership in business, provided that the family members contribute positively. He has been described as "shy, but a tough businessman" and as "a practical man, direct, austere, takes things seriously, his manner may appear cold if he does not trust the person he is talking to". Many aphorisms are ascribed to him, such as "in Spain we have to imitate the hard-working culture of the Chinese bazaars" and "you do not have to do a job that you like, but you have to make your job something you like doing".


Philanthropy

Through his wholly owned company Alquería Capital, Roig supports ''Proyecto Lanzadera'', which helps young entrepreneurs set up their businesses and offers them space within the Lanzadera Business Centre, in Valencia. He also sponsors a professional basketball team, called
Valencia Basket Valencia Basket Club S.A.D., commonly known as Valencia Basket (), is a professional basketball team based in Valencia, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the EuroLeague, with home games played at the Fuente de San Luis. The club is spons ...
.


References


Further reading

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roig, Juan 1949 births Living people People from Valencia Spanish billionaires 20th-century Spanish businesspeople 21st-century Spanish businesspeople