Michele Ferrero (; 26 April 1925 – 14 February 2015) was an Italian
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. He owned the chocolate manufacturer
Ferrero SpA
Ferrero International SpA ( , ), more commonly known as Ferrero Group or simply Ferrero, is an Italian multinational company with headquarters in Alba. Ferrero is a manufacturer of branded chocolate and confectionery products, and the second ...
, Europe's second-largest confectionery company (at the time of his death),
which he developed from the small bakery and café of his father in
Alba, Piedmont. His first big success was his work with
Francesco Rivella in adding vegetable oil to the traditional ''
gianduja'' paste to make the popular spread
Nutella
Nutella ( , , ; stylized in all lowercase) is a brand of brown, sweetened hazelnut cocoa spread. Nutella is manufactured by the Italian company Ferrero and was introduced in 1964, although its first iteration dates to 1963.
History
Pietro ...
.
Early life
Michele Ferrero was born on 26 April 1925 in
Dogliani,
the only child of
Pietro Ferrero, who founded the Ferrero company, and his wife Piera Cillario.
Career
Ferrero joined the firm in 1949.
He was the richest person in Italy, with a personal wealth of $26 billion
surpassing
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; 29 September 193612 June 2023) was an Italian Media proprietor, media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a mem ...
in March 2008. In May 2014, the
Bloomberg Billionaires Index listed Ferrero as the 20th richest person in the world.
Ferrero's brands include
Nutella
Nutella ( , , ; stylized in all lowercase) is a brand of brown, sweetened hazelnut cocoa spread. Nutella is manufactured by the Italian company Ferrero and was introduced in 1964, although its first iteration dates to 1963.
History
Pietro ...
,
Mon Chéri
is an internationally known brand name for a chocolate praline produced by the Italian Ferrero company.
The ''Mon Chéri'' is a single-wrapped combination consisting of a "heart" of cherry (18%) floating in a liqueur (13%) and contained in a ...
,
Kinder Chocolate
Kinder () is a brand of chocolate bar produced by Italian multinational confectionery company Ferrero SpA.
History
In Alba, Piedmont, Alba, Italy, in 1968, Michele Ferrero, proposed to market a product that was palatable to children (with choco ...
,
Ferrero Rocher,
Tic Tacs and
Kinder Eggs.
From 1997, his sons,
Giovanni Ferrero and
Pietro Ferrero, co-led the company. After Pietro died on 18 April 2011, of a heart attack while cycling in South Africa, Giovanni became the sole CEO.
Personal life and death
Ferrero married in 1962, and they had two sons together,
Giovanni Ferrero and
Pietro Ferrero Jr.
He was a fervent Catholic. Ferrero visited the
Lourdes
Lourdes (, also , ; ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for its Château fort, a ...
shrine annually, and had a
Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...
placed in every factory and office.
[ At the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of his company, he said: "The success of Ferrero we owe to Our Lady of Lourdes; without her we can do little."
Ferrero died on 14 February 2015, at his home in ]Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo ( ; ; or colloquially ; , ; ) is an official administrative area of Monaco, specifically the Ward (country subdivision), ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to ...
, Monaco, after a long illness. He was 89.
Distinctions
* Knight of the Order of Merit for Labour (1971)Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic () is the most senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of Italy, President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi.
The highest-ranking honour of the Republi ...
(2005)
See also
* List of billionaires
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrero, Michele
1925 births
2015 deaths
Businesspeople in confectionery
Italian billionaires
Italian businesspeople
Italian Roman Catholics
Italian expatriates in Monaco
People from Monte Carlo
Michele
Michele () is an Italian male given name, akin to the English male name Michael.
Michele (usually pronounced ), is also an English female given name that is derived from the French Michèle. It is a variant spelling of the more common (and iden ...
People from Dogliani