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

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. In March 2013, Forbes reported Persson's net worth as $28 billionForbes Billionaires Sweden 2013
/ref> making him the richest of Sweden's 12 billionaires and the 17th richest person in the world; he has since dropped to number 50. 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 establish ...

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

Hexagon AB Hexagon AB is a publicly listed global information technology company specializing in hardware and software digital reality that was founded in 1992 and headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Hexagon's B share is listed on the list of large companie ...

. Through his privately held real estate company Ramsbury Invest, Persson owns a large number of properties in London, Paris and Stockholm. 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 draws information from "action in the stock market, economic indicators and news reports", features a p ...

'', 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 ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a 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, so ...

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. Name The club is named ...

and is co-funding a

foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

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. The Domesday Book of 1086 records it as ''Linchehou'', when it was part of the land of the Abbey of St Peter of Glouces ...

in Hampshire, England. Persson has three children from his first marriage, to Pamela Collett. In 2009, his son,

Karl-Johan Persson Karl-Johan Erling Göran Persson (born 25 March 1975) is a Swedish billionaire businessman, and the chair and former president and CEO of the fashion company Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), founded by his grandfather Erling Persson. As of March 2022, ...

, took over as president and chief executive of H&M. His other two children,

Tom Persson Thomas Stefan Persson (born 15 May 1985) is a Swedish billionaire businessman, who works in the film industry. He is an heir of the fashion company Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), which was founded by his grandfather Erling Persson in 1947. On the ''For ...

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, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

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

Early life

Personal life

References

Further reading