Carl Stefan Erling Persson (; born 4 October 1947) is a Swedish

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least 1,000,000,000, one billion units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. It is a sub-category of the concept of the ultr ...

businessman. In 2022, Forbes reported Persson's net worth as $17 billion making him the richest of Sweden's 45 billionaires and the 98th richest person in the world. Persson was the chairman of fashion company H&M until May 2020, when he was succeeded by his son. He remains the company's largest shareholder, owning a 36% stake. The company was founded by his father

Erling Persson Erling Persson (21 January 1917 – 28 October 2002) was the founder of H&M (Hennes & Mauritz). He got the idea following a post-World War II trip to the United States: he was impressed by the country's efficient, high-volume stores. He establis ...

in 1947. Persson took over H&M from his father in 1982 and served as its manager until 1998. He also owns a substantial stake in the Swedish technology company

Hexagon AB Hexagon AB is a multinational industrial technology company. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden,and publicly traded on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange, the company since 2000 has had a particular focus on measuring technology and geospatial tools a ...

. Through his privately held real estate company Ramsbury Invest, Persson owns a large number of properties in London, Paris and Stockholm. He is the sole director of Ramsbury Estates Limited, which farms in the English counties of Wiltshire, Berkshire and Hampshire, centred on the village of

Ramsbury Ramsbury is a village and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire. The village is in the Kennet Valley near the Berkshire boundary. The nearest towns are Hungerford about east and Marlborough about west. The much larger town of Swind ...

in Wiltshire. Since Persson acquired the business in 1997, it has bought the land of several neighbouring estates including Littlecote and

Hungerford Park Hungerford Park was a country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned b ...

. According to ''

Bloomberg Billionaires Index The ''Bloomberg Billionaires Index'', launched in March 2012, is a daily ranking of the world's 500 richest people based on their net worth. It features a profile of each billionaire, and includes a tool that allows users to compare the fortunes o ...

'', Persson had a net worth of US$21.2 billion in January 2022, making him the 89th richest person in the world at the time.

Early life

Stefan Persson is the son of

, who founded H&M in 1947. He earned an associate qualification from

Stockholm University Stockholm University (SU) () is a public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social ...

Personal life

Persson is a founder of the Mentor Foundation, a non-profit organisation that aims to combat substance abuse among young people. He is a supporter of

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Djurgårdens IF is an s ...

and is co-funding a foundation for the club. Persson enjoys downhill skiing, tennis and golf. He owns properties in London, Paris and Stockholm and, in 2009, acquired the 21-cottage village of

Linkenholt Linkenholt is a village near Andover in Hampshire, England with about 40 inhabitants. It is in the civil Parish of Faccombe. Geography The village is in an area of outstanding natural beauty. Linkenholt includes a estate that has an Edwardian ...

in Hampshire, England. Persson has three children from his first marriage, to Pamela Collett. In 2009, his son, Karl-Johan Persson, took over as president and chief executive of H&M. His other two children, Tom Persson and Charlotte Söderström are also billionaires. Persson lives in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, Sweden, with his second wife, Denise Persson, née Florman.

Early life

Personal life

References

Further reading