How Africa’s Second Richest Man, Johann Rupert, Made $400m in One Week | The African Exponent.
It is barely two weeks into the New Year, and while many are still trying to figure out the right resolutions to guide them through the year, some are already reaping the rewards of good business decisions. Within one week into the New Year, South African billionaire, business mogul and Africa’s second richest man Johann Rupert made $400 million.
Johann Rupert is the second richest man in Africa and is currently worth an estimated $11.9 billion, according to Bloomberg. The South African billionaire, who is only second to Nigeria’s Alhaji Aliko Dangote on the list of wealthiest Africans, oversees an elite portfolio of luxury brands. Designer fashion labels such as Azzedine Alaïa, Chloé, Dunhill, Van Cleef & Arpels, Vacheron Constantin, and Cartier are part of his ever-expanding business empire.
The $400 million financial growth experienced by the Stellenbosch-born billionaire has moved him up significantly on the billionaire ladder closer to Aliko Dangote – who sits on a net worth of $13.5 billion.
Financial experts believe that if his business fortunes continue to grow at this pace, Mr. Rupert can surpass the Nigerian billionaire who has led the pack as the wealthiest man in Africa for the tenth consecutive year.
Earlier in the year, Exclusive Africa shared a list of African billionaires who lost it all and bounced back. One more name worthy of the 2023 list is Johann Rupert – the billionaire would see the news of his $400 million financial leap as a welcome development as it comes barely a few months after he lost $1.09 billion in 2022. The loss resulted from a downturn in the current market value of his Swiss luxury goods holding company, Compagnie Financiere Richemont.
Global billionaire ranking index platform Bloomberg has updated the current net worth of the world’s top 500 wealthiest individuals, and this saw Johann Rupert move from position number 162 to number 156 within a few days as his net worth grew from $11.4 billion to $11.9 billion.
How Did Johann Rupert Make $400 Million in One Week?
Mr. Johann Rupert achieved the financial feat as a result of the increase in the value of Richemonts’s shares in the financial stock market. As a result of the increase in the stock market value, Rupert’s 9.14% market value stake which was valued at $7.71 billion increased to $8.37 billion in the Swiss and Johannesburg stock exchange markets.
The stock market in South Africa hit a historical high within the last week, with 72,161 points. The all-share index (.JALSH) reached a 10-month high of 78,238 points, a rise of about 1.8%.
Another great news for Mr. Rupert is that his company, Richemont, has already recorded better in the first two weeks of the New Year than it did in the whole of 2022 – and 2022 recorded better figures than 2021, which shows that the billionaire is on the right path.
Who is Johann Rupert, and How Did He Make His Billions?
Johann Peter Rupert is a South African billionaire business mogul. He is the eldest son of the late business tycoon Anton Rupert and his wife, Huberte. Following the death of his father, he became the chairman of the Swiss-based luxury goods company Richemont. He is also the chairman of the South Africa-based company Remgro.
He was born on 1 June 1950 in Stellenbosch, South Africa. After taking over the family business from his father in the late 1980s, Rupert made a big move by spinning off the European assets of the company and forming the Swiss luxury goods conglomerate Richemont. He proceeded to buy huge shares in well-known brands such as Van Cleef & Arpels, Azzedine Alaia, and Piaget.
Johann Rupert is chairman of Swiss luxury goods firm Compagnie Financiere Richemont. The company is best known for the brands Cartier and Montblanc.