Jan Antonín Baťa
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Jan Antonín Baťa (7 March 1898 – 23 August 1965) (also known as Jan Antonin Bata or Jan Bata, called the King of Shoes) was a Czech-Brazilian shoe manufacturer from
Uherské Hradiště Uherské Hradiště (; ) is a town in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 25,000 inhabitants. The agglomeration with the two neighbouring towns of Staré Město (Uherské Hradiště District), Staré Město and Kunovice has over ...
(southeastern
Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...
), half-brother of
Tomáš Baťa Tomáš Baťa () (3 April 1876 – 12 July 1932) was a Czech entrepreneur and founder of the Bata shoe company. His career was cut short when he died in a plane accident due to bad weather. Baťa's half-brother Jan Antonín Baťa took over h ...
. Together with American experts, he participated in the First Prague International Management Congress (PIMCO) in July 1924, organized by the Masaryk Academy of Labour. After the 1932 death of his half-brother Tomáš, who had founded the company, Jan Antonin became the head of
Bata Corporation The Bata Corporation (known as Bata, and in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, known as Baťa, ) is a Multinational corporation, multinational footwear, apparel and fashion accessories manufacturer and retailer of Moravian (Czech) origin, headquar ...
which had been converted to a joint stock company, Baťa a.s., a year prior, and was based in
Zlín Zlín (in 1949–1989 Gottwaldov; ; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 75,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Zlín Region and it lies on the Dřevnice River. It is known as an industrial centre. The development of the modern city ...
. At the time, the organization employed 16,560 workers that maintained 1,645 shops and 25 enterprises. Most of it was located in Czech lands (15,770 employees, 1,500 shops, 25 enterprises) and Slovak lands (2 enterprises, 250 employees). International divisions consisted of 790 employees, 132 shops, and 20 enterprises. Jan Antonín Baťa implemented new growth plans for the businesses at the height of the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
. His efforts included expansion into new industries, including shoe production machinery, tires, textiles, chemicals, mines, canals, a railway, film studios, manufacture of airplanes and bicycles, development of retail department stores, and import/export. During his period, the Czech part of the business more than doubled in size. In 1939, when Bohemia and Moravia were annexed by
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
, Baťa unsuccessfully tried to negotiate with the German authorities to prevent the control of his company from being taken over. He subsequently took his family into exile to the United States. In 1941, he was
blacklisted Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considere ...
for having entered into negotiations with the Nazis and was exiled again, settling finally in Brazil. There, he founded several industrial towns, including Bataiporã, Bataguassu, Batatuba, Anaurilândia, and Mariápolis, all of which still exist to the present day. Baťa expanded the shoe company more than sixfold from the date of acquisition until his death in 1965.


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Jan Antonin Bata endowment fund
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bata, Jan Antonin Bata family Jan Antonin Czechoslovak businesspeople 20th-century Brazilian businesspeople Czechoslovak emigrants to Brazil People from Uherské Hradiště People from Zlín 1898 births 1965 deaths Recipients of the Order of the White Lion