Michael Pieper (born 1946) is a Swiss

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, the owner of the kitchen appliance manufacturer Franke, through his Artemis Group holding company. As of October 2021, his net worth was estimated at US$4.8 billion.

Early life

Pieper was born in 1946. He studied economics at the

University of St. Gallen A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

Career

Pieper is the owner of Artemis Group, which controls Franke, bought by his father Will Pieper in 1975. Pieper took over as CEO of Franke in 1989. Franke is a supplier of products for kitchens, the hygiene sector and coffee preparation. Pieper stepped down in 2012 as CEO of the Franke Group. The group of companies employs around 9,000 people and generated sales of 2.076 billion Swiss francs in 2017. The owner Michael Pieper is number 804 on the Forbes list and is therefore also one of the 10 richest Swiss. Pieper's assets are estimated at CHF 3.5 to 4 billion. In addition to a large real estate portfolio, the Artemis Group also includes investments in Swiss industrial companies. Artemis for example also owns a stake in precision cutting technology company Feintool and teak plantations in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Pieper serves on the boards of several companies, including construction manufacturer Forbo and vehicle component manufacturer

Autoneum Autoneum (legal name Autoneum Holding AG) is an internationally active Swiss automotive supplier headquartered in Winterthur, Switzerland. Autoneum is one of the leading manufacturers in vehicle acoustic and thermal insulation for vehicles and sup ...

. While machinery and industry were primarily his profession, the President of the Artemis Group, is recently breaking new ground with several startup investments. For this reason he joined the startup fund Wingman Ventures in 2019 with a high single-digit million amount. In 2020 he further acquired a 10% stake in the biotech startup company Tomorrowlabs GmbH alongside fellow investor and former Linde CEO

Wolfgang Reitzle Hans Wolfgang Reitzle (born 7 March 1949 in Neu-Ulm) is a German business executive. Early life and education After leaving his school in Ulm, Reitzle continued his education at the Technical University of Munich where he studied mechanical e ...

. The company was founded in Vienna in 2016 by the physician

Dominik Duscher Dominic is a name common among Roman Catholics and other Latin-Romans as a male given name. Originally from the late Roman-Italic name "Dominicus", its translation means "Lordly", "Belonging to God" or "of the Master". Variations include: Domini ...

and the pharmacologist

Dominik Thor Dominic is a name common among Roman Catholics and other Latin-Romans as a male given name. Originally from the late Roman-Italic name "Dominicus", its translation means "Lordly", "Belonging to God" or "of the Master". Variations include: Domini ...

on basis of the patent-pending HSF ( "HIF strengthening factor") active ingredient intended to regenerate skin and hair.

Personal life

Pieper is married, with two children, and lives in

Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...

, Switzerland. Pieper's children Nina and Alexander are involved in the Franke group and sit on the board of directors of Artemis Holding.

References

Living people Swiss billionaires Place of birth missing (living people) University of St. Gallen alumni People from Lucerne Swiss chief executives 1946 births {{Switzerland-business-bio-stub