Stephan Schmidheiny

Source of wealth: Investments

78 years male Finance & Investments 🇨🇭 CH

Net Worth

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Earnings per second

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The scale of their wealth

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Health

The price of life

Let's compare Stephan Schmidheiny's fortune with the healthcare spending of a massive country

Stephan Schmidheiny could fund the entire healthcare system of DR Congo, with a population of over 105,800,000 people, for approximately 1.2 years.

But even if we compare their fortune with that of a rich country

On the other end, Stephan Schmidheiny could cover the healthcare spending of Luxembourg, considered the most heavily funded healthcare system in the world, for 0.5 years.

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Education

Buying the future

Let's also compare their fortune with education spending, first with a poor country

Stephan Schmidheiny could cover the total cost of Nigeria's education system, the most populous country in Africa with over 243,000,000 inhabitants, for 0.8 years.

And yes, we can also compare it with a rich country

But they couldn't just cover the cost of a poor country; Luxembourg is considered the country with the highest per capita investment in education in the world, and Stephan Schmidheiny could pay for it entirely for 1.0 years.

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Research

The monopoly on progress

Coming full circle, we think it's also interesting to add another gigantic country

Stephan Schmidheiny could fully fund the state research budget of Pakistan, the fifth most populous country in the world with over 260,000,000 inhabitants, for 4.4 years.

And of course, the country that invests the most per capita worldwide

But even if we compare the total wealth of Stephan Schmidheiny with Israel, the country that invests the most per capita in research in the world, they could cover the total cost of the system for 0.1 years.

While billions of people struggle to access basic healthcare, education, and research, a single individual could fund entire national systems for centuries.

Gold

Everyday luxuries

Stephan Schmidheiny's fortune is equivalent to 18 tons of gold. It's hard to process, since we don't usually keep a handful of gold bars in our piggy banks.

A standard gold ring usually weighs between 4 and 7 grams. Let's say this one weighs 5 grams. It's usually 18 karats.

Based on today's gold price (excluding the jeweler's commission, shipping, or anything else), that ring would be worth $546.86.

Stephan Schmidheiny could buy 4,727,016 gold rings. That's a lot of fingers and way too many gifts!!

And if you're struggling to visualize that many rings, it would take 1 trucks to transport them. Although Stephan Schmidheiny will almost certainly have enough money left over to pay for the gas.

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Biography

Stephan Schmidheiny's fortune dates back to 1867, when his great-grandfather founded a brick yard in eastern Switzerland that eventually became a giant in building materials.

Schmidheiny joined the family business in 1974 as a sales manager. He became board president of his father's construction materials company Swiss Eternit Group in 1976 at age 28.

When his father Max divided the estate in 1984, Stephan inherited Eternit while brother Thomas got cement and concrete supplier Holcim.

Stephan Schmidheiny sold all his holdings in the Swiss Eternit group at the end of the 1980s and invested in other businesses.

Since 2009, Schmidheiny has faced criminal charges in Italy for negligence that led to 2,000 asbestos-related deaths at Italian Eternit factories in the 1970s and 80s. Proceedings are still ongoing.