When it comes to famous family businesses in the West, people often think of companies named after family names such as ThyssenKrupp Group and Morgan Consortium. Even though ThyssenKrupp has long been a It has completely separated from the Krupp family and turned to professional managers to manage and operate, but its "Arms Emperor Family" brand is still deliberately used as the loudest advertisement.
However, there is a wealthy German family that has been adhering to a rather unusual "family rule" for generations - "Do not use the family name as a product trademark or business name, and try to avoid having your name appear in the media. ".
This is Germany’s invisible wealthy empire—the Quandt family.
Speaking of the Quandt family in Germany, probably only a few people know about it. But in fact, the major shareholders behind many dazzling companies are actually the Quandt family—BMW, Daimler-Benz, the international specialty chemicals group Altana, the manufacturer of Mauser rifles Deutsche Weapons and Ammunition Factory (DWM), Varta Battery Company (Varta), which accounts for 80% of the German battery market share...
It can be said that the ups and downs of the Quandt family over the past century are the modern history of Germany. the epitome of.
Unlike the Krupp family, which has focused on the steel and military industries for generations, the Quandt members are like keen "hunters" who never stick to a certain industry and can always learn from the complex business environment. , identify the industries with the greatest development potential, seize the opportunity, and quickly redeploy.
There used to be a woolen textile factory in the small town of Pritzwalk northwest of Berlin. In 1865, a 16-year-old apprentice came to the textile factory - Emil Quandt.
The wheel of fate of the Quant family begins.
With his hard-working spirit and flexible mind, in less than 4 years, Emil rose from a workshop worker to a clerk and sales manager, and successfully captured the heart of the factory manager. The heart of Reg's daughter Hedwig became Drag's door-to-door son-in-law.
After Dreger's death, Emil teamed up with his wife and brother to buy more than half of the shares of the factory and took ownership of the textile factory.
Emile Quandt is coming of age.
Along with the German Unification War in the 1860s and 1870s, the demand for military uniforms from the militaristic Kingdom of Prussia/the Second German Empire soared. Textile factories continued to expand their industry by receiving "government orders". By the beginning of the 20th century, the Quandt family had successfully controlled three powerful textile mills, basically monopolizing the entire industry and becoming the leader of the German textile industry.
Unfortunately, Emil, who was not too old (only in his 50s), collapsed first and suffered from a variety of chronic diseases. Therefore, the second generation of Quandt, Günther Quandt, who had just finished college, was recalled by his father from Berlin and began to be trained to take over the family business.
Unlike his conservative and stable father, his son Jingte is more daring to try and take risks.
On the eve of World War I and during the war, huge military uniform orders increased the Quant family's output by more than four times, making huge profits.
After the war, the German economy was in a slump, unemployment and inflation remained high, and the mark devalued crazily like toilet paper.
Most of the working class, including the middle class, have quickly, directly and without any delay become clanking poor.
Unexpectedly, for some big entrepreneurs with resources, this is a God-given opportunity - super-scale inflation allows them to pay off their debts easily.
To a certain extent, the Quandt family was the ultimate beneficiary of the war strategies of the two German empires.
Through bank loans, Günther Quandt bought 30% of the equity of the German Woolen Group at a bargain price.
Later, he was forced to sell all his shares because he could not bear the huge pressure from the bank.
With this in and out, 45 million marks were credited to Jingte’s bank account.
You must know that the mark is still depreciating violently at this time and continues to shrink every day, so you must invest as soon as possible.
Unlike ordinary investors who buy a variety of stocks to avoid risks and obtain investment returns, Jingte’s ideal is obviously more lofty - he is eager to gain influence in a certain industry - to concentrate on investing in a certain industry. These enterprises seek decision-making power and monopoly status.
As early as before the war, Gyeongte was very optimistic about the battery industry. At this time, after careful research, Gyeongte set his sights on the Storage Battery Factory Joint Stock Company (AFA).
Taking advantage of the plummeting stock price, like a hunter, he quietly absorbed a large number of shares in AFA, and finally successfully acquired this military battery company.
At this point, the Quandt family began to shift from light industry to heavy industry and military industry, and bought a company with world influence for the first time.
During the Weimar era, Günther Quandt had successfully transformed from a "textile factory owner" into an influential investor. By buying stocks in his favorite industries, he became a major player in many heavy industries and industries. Major shareholders with decision-making power in chemical, pharmaceutical, and machinery companies.
In the 1930s, Günter Quandt was elected chairman of the supervisory board of the Deutsche Weapons and Ammunition Factory (DWM).
This DWM belongs to the German military industry giant and owns the Mauser factory.
Since then, the Quandt family, who was born in military uniforms, began to focus on the arms industry.
Obviously, the Quant family has once again caught up with the good times.
With the Nazi Party coming to power, Germany continued to expand its armaments and prepare for war, and various government orders once again brought unusually considerable excess profits.
In 1933, Günter Quandt joined the Nazi Party and had frequent contacts with high-level officials in Germany.
After the outbreak of World War II, Günther Quandt was appointed as one of the main persons in charge of the Ministry of Defense and Economics of the Third Reich, and won the trust of the top Nazis.
His AFA factory provides almost all batteries for German Navy submarines and participates in the development of V-series missiles.
In 1941, Günter Quandt, who was busy selling arms, also acquired a pharmaceutical factory that was on the verge of bankruptcy, Bick Goulden Factory Co., Ltd.
This Bic-Gulden company was the predecessor of the German Altana Group, which later became a giant in the world's chemical industry.
By the end of the war, even though a large number of female workers were employed, the Quant family's factories still suffered from severe labor shortages.
As a result, like the Krupp factories of the same period, Günter Quandt's factories also began to receive a large number of "low-cost labor" provided by the Nazi government, that is, people from occupied areas, Soviet prisoners of war, and some concentration camps of jews.
The Quandt family even cooperated directly with the SS to build a concentration camp at the battery factory in Hannover - the vast majority of workers would die of lead poisoning in less than six months.
Under the harsh environment and high-intensity labor, the Quant family's factories turned into "production lines of death."
After the war, Günter Quandt’s Nazi Party identity and his disgraceful past of using “forced labor” led him to be recognized as a “subordinate” of fascism and he was charged with He was accused of "crimes against humanity" and was arrested by the US military and thrown into prison, awaiting trial as a war criminal.
However, in December 1946, the charges against Gunter Quandt were dropped, and the US military sent a special car back home.
After all, compared with the entrepreneurs who held the "Third Reich" accountable, the most urgent thing for the US military to do was to rebuild order, maintain spheres of influence and fight against the Soviet Union. Americans need Günter Quandt Continue to "use the remaining heat".
But another part of the reason that cannot be ignored is that Günter Quandt and his team of lawyers found a perfect "scapegoat"-the former German Propaganda Minister of the Three Reichs, Goebbels.
It is necessary to tell the story of Günther Quandt and his famous ex-wife, the de facto first lady of the "Third Reich", Goebbels Magda. .
When Günter Quant was 37 years old, his beloved wife Anthony, who had already given birth to two sons for him, died of illness.
When he first lost his wife, Jingte always said to everyone he met that Anthony was the "only true love" in his life. Looking at that posture, it seemed that he would guard his deceased wife for the rest of his life.
Then, within two years, he got married again.
His successor is Magda, a blond beauty who is 20 years younger than him.
On the train from Berlin to Gossler, Magda, who was still a high school student, got on the train halfway.
At this time, a middle-aged, bald and blessed man sitting in a high-end box put down the newspaper in his hand, raised his head, and was about to say hello to the lady. Then he was shocked - this was like a little fairy. Go down to earth.
The two chatted all the way and got along quite well. When parting, the little fairy allowed Gaunt Quant to go to school and invite her out to play as an uncle.
A few weeks later, Gunter Quant proposed to her.
Magda thought about it for three days and agreed, even though she was not much older than Gunter Quant's two sons.
As the wife of a famous entrepreneur, young Magda has difficulty adapting to her status. The generation gap with her husband continues to deepen, and her outlook on life becomes increasingly discordant.
Magda is disgusted with Günter Quant's stinginess and boredom, and yearns for the exciting and romantic freedom in movies and novels.
Shortly after giving birth to her son Harald, Magdaai began to let herself go and secretly dated an American lover named Ernest.
This Ernest is also quite well-established. He is the nephew of US President Hoover.
On the day Magda and Gunter Quant divorced, Ernest knelt down and proposed hard.
But Magda hesitated again at this time.
At this time, a best friend told her that she might as well go to the stadium to watch the noisy rally of the "Brown Shirt Party" to relax.
At the rally, a lame man with a humble appearance gave a passionate speech on the stage.
In the audience, the beautiful Magda was fascinated by the scene.
Obviously, that irresponsible suggestion cruelly ruined Magda's life... (A thousand words are omitted here).
After Hitler and his wife committed suicide, Goebbels and his wife poisoned all the six minor children around them with their own hands, and then both committed suicide fully dressed. The eight members of the family were "voluntarily buried" by the Führer.
Obviously, at this time, it is the most reliable operation to put the "blame" on the Nazi war criminals who have "committed suicide out of fear of crime."
Günter Quandt tearfully testified that Goebbels used Harald’s custody rights as a bargaining chip to force him to join the Nazi Party.
Later, Günter Quandt's legal team actually found some personal and material evidence, portraying Günther as a "suffering single father" who was persecuted by the Nazis and even had his family destroyed by the Nazi privileged class. His image won him a lot of sympathy points, and ultimately helped him successfully exonerate himself.
For more than a year after being imprisoned, Günter Quant was not idle, thinking about how to rebuild his corporate empire.
After regaining his freedom, Günter Quant began to have good luck again.
In 1948, in order to curb inflation, the newly established West German government issued "West German Marks" to replace the original Reichsmarks - 100 Reichsmarks were exchanged for 6.50 Reichsmarks.
As a result, the savings that ordinary people worked hard to save in the bank suddenly depreciated heavily. However, investors like Gunter Quant relieved their heavy debt burden out of thin air, and held a large number of securities, real estate, and Real assets such as factories also appreciated significantly; later, with the stimulation of the Marshall Plan and the outbreak of the Korean War, the military factories he invested in also quickly came back to life...
However, this Günther Quandt was only in his sixties, but his health was broken. Like his father, he suffered from various chronic diseases. However, in his opinion, his successor was not satisfactory.
Gunter Quandt and his beloved wife who died young had two sons, Helmut and Herbert. Among them, the eldest son Helmut was trained as the successor of the Quant family since he was a child. Unfortunately, Helmut died suddenly of appendicitis in his early 20s.
Ginger had no choice but to put his hope in his second son, Herbert, who had suffered from eye disease since childhood. At the beginning, Herbert could not even see the words in the book, but with the help of medical technology, he could not see the words in the book. With progress, vision gradually improved.
Later, Gunter Quandt and Magda gave birth to a third son, Harald. However, Harald was once very close to Goebbels and also joined the Nazi Wehrmacht. These "stains" also made Günter Quandt very troubled.
In 1954, Gunter Quant died suddenly while on a business trip. According to his will, his huge Quant wealth empire was equally divided between his two half-sons, Herbert, who managed the battery. , automobiles and potash plants (AFA, Wintershall and Daimler-Benz AG), Harald took over other parts of the company, mainly metal processing companies.
With the economy recovering in Germany and Europe as a whole, the Quandt brothers determined that the automotive industry was about to usher in a boom.
As a result, brothers Herbert and Harald, the third generation heads of the Quandt family, began to continuously increase their holdings of Mercedes-Benz shares, and paid close attention to another automobile company on the verge of bankruptcy-Bavaria Engine Manufacturing plant (BMW Group BMW).
However, the two brothers had major differences in the specific operation plan.
Harald believed that it should increase its shareholding and help Mercedes-Benz directly acquire the BMW Group, so that the two companies could merge into one; while Herbert boldly proposed a plan to acquire BMW.
However, no one wanted to believe that BMW could completely come back to life. Not only did his brother express clear opposition, but even the bank left him and refused to provide loans to Herbert.
Herbert decided to fight his last. He invested all his private assets as a bet to expand BMW's share capital. This means that if the move fails, he will be completely bankrupt.
Now it seems that whether it is to increase the equity of Mercedes-Benz or to bet on BMW, it is an extremely wise choice.
After leading BMW back to life, Herbert continued to increase his stake in BMW until he achieved absolute control in 1969.
When Herbert died in 1982, the Quandt family operated more than 200 companies with more than 70,000 employees and sales revenue of 13 billion German marks.
In 1967, Harald died on the way from Frankfurt to Nice, France. He left behind his wife Inge and 5 daughters.
Subsequently, Inge began to have difficult separation negotiations with Herbert.
The elder brother Herbert had three marriages and left 6 children.
In 1970, Herbert left a will early and divided his company shares and property among his three wives and six children. The most important BMW operating rights and controlling shares were all It was divided between his third wife Johanna and her son and daughter.
At the same time, Inge finally reached an agreement with Herbert and obtained equity interests in other industries such as carriages, metals, ammunition factories, and Daimler-Benz.
Four years later, she sold all her Daimler-Benz shares to the King of Kuwait, cashing out about 1 billion marks at a time. This was also the largest transaction in the world that year and once shocked the whole world.
When Inge died in 1978, her five daughters received equal property, totaling approximately 1.5 billion German marks.
Originally, melon-eating people around the world were waiting for the show of these five young ladies fighting for the inheritance. Unexpectedly, the five sisters decided to work together in the same boat and were not in a hurry to separate the family again.
They established a family office, Harald Quandt Holding, and introduced a professional manager system to manage family wealth in a unified manner in the form of diversified and portfolio investments, and maintained it until Today, harmony has been maintained and value has continued to increase.
Herbert’s heirs are also very capable, especially his daughter Suzanne, who is in charge of the BMW Group. She has the style of her father and has made considerable achievements.
The Quandt family controls a large number of industrial companies in Germany, but they have followed the "family rules" of keeping a low profile for generations. Family members almost never appear in public and have never used the surname "Quandt" For advertising purposes, they never got into a fight over the separation of the family, which damaged the vitality of the company. They always maintained the family heritage intact - they always stood behind the scenes and were truly low-key traders;
In contrast Sadly, the Krupp family emerged at the same time as the Quandt family. Even though the relevant companies still carry the Krupp brand, in fact, they have nothing to do with the Krupp family for a long time.