Arnold Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller (; 13 July 1913 – 16 April 2012) was a Danish

shipping Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...

magnate The magnate term, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders, or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...

. He was a longtime figure at A.P. Moller–Maersk Group, which was founded by his father.

Personal life

Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller was born in Hellerup, the son of a Danish father,

Arnold Peter Møller Arnold Peter Møller (2 October 1876 – 12 June 1965), better known as A. P. Møller, was a Danish shipping magnate, businessman who was the founder of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group in 1904. Biography A. P. Møller was the son of captain Pet ...

, founder of the A.P. Moller–Maersk Group and an American mother of Irish and German descent, Chastine Estelle Roberta (née McKinney) Møller. Mærsk married his high-school sweetheart, Emma Neergaard Rasmussen in 1940 and remained married to her until her death in 2005. They had three daughters: Leise (born 1941), Kirsten, Mrs Olufsen (born 1944), and Ane, Mrs Uggla (born 1948). He ranked 557th-wealthiest person in the world (2007) on the

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 r ...

list with an estimated fortune of 142 billion Danish kroner, which made him the wealthiest person in Denmark until his death.

Business activities

Møller became a partner in the A.P. Moller–Maersk Group in 1940. When Denmark was occupied by Germany during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Møller went into exile in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and ran the family business from New York until his return to Denmark in 1947. Møller became CEO and chairman on his father's death in 1965. In 1970, Møller became the first non-American member of the board of IBM, a position he held until 1984. Møller stepped down as

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

in 1993 in favour of Jess Søderberg, but stayed on as chairman of the board until 2003 when, at age 90, he retired completely. He personally controlled a substantial portion of the company's shares until his death. At his death he was Denmark's second-richest man after

Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen (; born 27 December 1947) is the former President and CEO of The Lego Group (1979–2004). According to ''Bloomberg Billionaires Index'', Kristiansen is the third richest Dane, with a net worth of $6.75 billion as of April ...

, according to th
Forbes List of Billionaires 2007
This is disputed by the Danish financial magazine Berlingske Nyhedsmagasin, which placed Møller as number one in Denmark and estimated his fortune in 2006 as 141.2 billion DKK, and his personal wealth at 7.0 billion DKK. Most of Møller's fortune was placed in foundations controlling the A.P. Moller–Maersk Group, in which he held a

controlling interest A controlling interest is an ownership interest in a corporation with enough voting stock shares to prevail in any stockholders' motion. A majority of voting shares (over 50%) is always a controlling interest. When a party holds less than the major ...

North Sea oil

In 1962, A.P. Møller–Maersk A/S was granted concession to survey and exploit oil and

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon d ...

resources in Denmark, rendering a

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

-like status to Maersk. The 40-year agreement was renewed in 2003, causing some discussion. The levy paid to the state is not influenced by fluctuating oil price, meaning Maersk could gain a much larger profit in times with high oil prices. The levy is 69 percent, lower than Norway's (80 percent). The UK raised the oil levy in 2006 due to high prices. As of November 2007, the price of oil had risen from US$22 to $96 per barrel, since the agreement of 2003, meaning that in 40 years' time, the company would not just earn the expected profit of 87 billion kroner, but 346 billion kroner, overall. Government parties declined to change the agreement or raise the oil levy. The oil and gas was reclaimed by Mærsks Olie og Gas A/S and Dansk Undergrunds Consortium (DUC), owned by A.P. Møller–Maersk A/S (39%), a subcompany of

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New ...

(46%) and

Chevron Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to: Science and technology * Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines * Chevron (anatomy), a bone * '' Eulithis testata'', a moth * Chevron (geology), a fold in rock la ...

Denmark Inc. (15%). The company is a major contributor to the Conservative People's Party and Venstre, the two parties forming Denmark's governing coalition from 2001 to 2011. Smaller contributions have been paid to other political parties, including the

Danish Social Liberal Party The Danish Social Liberal Party ( da, Radikale Venstre, , Radical Left) is a social-liberal political party in Denmark. The party was founded as a split from the Venstre Reform Party in 1905. Historically, the centrist party has played a cent ...

Danish People's Party The Danish People's Party ( da, Dansk Folkeparti, DPP/DF) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Denmark. It was formed in 1995 by former members of the Progress Party (FrP). The DPP lent its support to the Venstre– C ...

, and formerly the Centre Democrats and the Progress Party.

Succession

Upon his death, his youngest daughter Ane Mærsk Mc-Kinney Uggla took over as chairperson of the controlling foundation of Maersk, and announced a plan to keep the organization mostly the same as a conglomerate of loosely-related businesses.

Philanthropy

The

Copenhagen Opera House The Copenhagen Opera House (in Danish usually called Operaen, literally ''The opera'') is the national opera house of Denmark, and among the most modern opera houses in the world. It is also one of the most expensive opera houses ever built at ...

, at a cost of 2.3 billion kroner, is one of the most expensive opera houses ever built; it was donated by The A.P. Møller and Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller Foundation. It is situated directly across the harbour from the royal residence,

Amalienborg Palace Amalienborg () is the official residence for the Danish royal family, and is located in Copenhagen, Denmark. Queen Magrethe ll lives here in winter and autumn. It consists of four identical classical palace façades with rococo interiors arou ...

, and within sight of his Maersk headquarters. In the same area, Møller donated

Amaliehaven Amaliehaven (English: The Amalie Garden) is a small park located between Amalienborg Palace and the waterfront in the Frederiksstaden neighbourhood of central Copenhagen, Denmark. It was established in 1983 as a gift from the A.P. Møller and the ...

, a park between the Palace and the harbour, in the 1980s.

Death

Møller died on 16 April 2012, aged 98, just four days after his last public appearance. He was survived by his three daughters.

Distinctions and accolades

Møller was a knight of the Danish

Order of the Elephant The Order of the Elephant ( da, Elefantordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry and is Denmark's highest-ranked honour. It has origins in the 15th century, but has officially existed since 1693, and since the establishment of constitutional ...

(awarded 15 December 2000); he was, during his membership of the order, the only person who was neither royal nor a head of state to hold this honour (the nuclear physicist

Niels Bohr Niels Henrik David Bohr (; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922 ...

and founder of the

East Asiatic Company The EAC Invest A/S, formerly known as the Santa Fe Group and East Asiatic Company ( da, italic=yes, Det Østasiatiske Kompagni or ''ØK'') is a multinational holding and investment company, based in Copenhagen, Denmark. History The East Asiat ...

Hans Niels Andersen held the same order), which granted him the title His Excellency. He was awarded the honour of Life Honorary Membership of the Baltic Exchange in recognition of his service to shipping by the Baltic. AP Møller-Maersk has conducted business through Baltic Exchange brokers since the early 20th century and its London company has been a Baltic member since 1951. The ''Maersk 2013'', a new Triple E-class

container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermoda ...

(165,000 metric tons deadweight), IMO:9619907, yard number 4250, ship name '' Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller'', was named for Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller.Profile
finanse.wp.pl; accessed 5 March 2015.

References

External links

Forbes.com: Forbes World's Richest PeopleBny.dk: Danish Billionaires 2006Operaen.dk: New Opera house donated by the foundations to the people of DenmarkApmollerfonde.dk: Projects supported by the foundations
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moller, Maersk Mc-Kinney 1913 births 2012 deaths Danish billionaires Danish people of American descent Grand Crosses of the Order of the Dannebrog Businesspeople from Copenhagen People from Gentofte Municipality Maersk people Danish businesspeople in shipping Burials at Hellerup Cemetery