Stefan Persson

Carl Stefan Erling Persson (Swedish: [ˈsteːfan ˈpæːʂɔn]; born 4 October 1947) is a Swedish business magnate. In March 2013, Forbes reported Persson's net worth as $28 billion making him the richest of Sweden's 12 billionaires and the 17th richest person in the world; he has since dropped to number 80. Persson is the chairman and main shareholder in fashion company H&M, which was founded by his father Erling Persson 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. Through his privately held real estate company Ramsbury Invest, Persson owns a large number of properties in London, Paris and Stockholm. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Persson had a net worth of US $31.9 billion in 2014, making him the 17th richest person in the world at the time.