The founder of Lidl and Kaufland, Dieter Schwarz, is considered a “phantom” who has stayed out of the public eye for decades. There are hardly any photos of the entrepreneur. On Tuesday, one of the richest Germans turns 85.
Schwarz was born on September 24, 1939 in Heilbronn, the city where he still lives today. After graduating from high school and spending a year abroad in the USA, he began his apprenticeship as a businessman in his father’s company “Lidl and Schwarz” and quickly rose through the ranks.
First supermarket in 1968
The father-son team opened their first supermarket in 1968 in Backnang, Württemberg, under the name “Handelshof”. The discounter’s success story followed in the 1970s: Dieter Schwarz revived the name “Lidl” so that he didn’t have to call his stores Schwarz-Markt. A man named Ludwig Lidl is said to have received around 1,000 D-Marks for the rights to the name.
After the death of his father Josef, Schwarz took over sole management of the company in 1977. The first Kaufland supermarket opened in 1984 on 15,000 square meters, with meat products, baked goods and catering also finding their way into the discounters. By the end of the 1990s, Schwarz had expanded his supermarket network into the eastern federal states, France, Italy and the Czech Republic.
Withdrawal at the end of the 1990s
At the end of the 1990s, Schwarz withdrew from operational business and handed over the business to a management team of confidants. In 2004, he handed over the management of Treuhand KG to Klaus Gehrig. Kidnapping threats against his two daughters, whom he has with his wife Franziska, are said to have contributed to this. In the background, however, Schwarz continues to hold the reins. There have been repeated disputes within the board and dismissals in the management team.
For example, in 2014, when CEO Heinz Holland and purchasing director Dawid Jaschok had to leave because of “irreconcilable views” on the company’s business direction. “There is apparently a huge internal row,” the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” reported at the time.
Back in 2008, a spying scandal at Lidl made negative headlines. The supermarket had employees in hundreds of branches monitored with hidden cameras. The company apologized, but also pointed to the high level of damage caused by shoplifting. The incident became public through an article in “Stern”. Just one year later, “Spiegel” reported on the misuse of employee data, in which Lidl had recorded information about employees’ illnesses.
Schwarz is said to still live in Heilbronn today and have a second home on a lake in Upper Bavaria. With his foundation, Schwarz supports his home region and, for example, financed 20 economics professorships at the Technical University of Munich’s Heilbronn branch with a three-digit million amount. At the end of 2021, “Manager Magazin” even wrote: “With the power of his billion-dollar fortune, retail tycoon Dieter Schwarz is transforming his hometown of Heilbronn into a place according to his ideas.”
Among the top 50 richest people
The US magazine “Forbes” lists Schwarz among the top 50 richest people in the world, with a fortune of around 35 billion euros. The Schwarz Group currently employs almost 600,000 people in almost 14,000 stores in 30 countries and is the third largest food retailer in the world, behind the US giants Walmart and Costco.
Schwarz, who usually operates incognito, came out of hiding once in recent years. At the beginning of 2014, he surprisingly intervened in the mayoral election of his hometown. At the time, he spoke out in favor of the SPD candidate Harry Mergel, who won the election.
The “secretary”, as the “Handelsblatt” called him in 2014 alongside the term “phantom”, has been married since 1963. His two daughters Regine and Monika could take on management roles in the company in the future, as was said in 2023. It is unlikely that he will publicly comment on this. Even on his special day.
