Stefan Persson, a Swedish entrepreneur, was born in 1947, on October 4. He is the son of Erling Persson, who founded Swedish fashion company Hennes & Mauritz in 1947. He joined the Company in 1972, worked as chief executive officer from 1982 to 1998 after which he acquired the village of Linkenholt in Hampshire, England. He has served as the Board of Director of Electrolux and INGKA Holding B.V and Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship.
He inherited his fortune from his father Erling who was the son of a butcher in Västerås in Stockholm. After World War II, during his trip to New York City, he was impressed to cheaper but stylish cloths and inspired to open women’s wear store Hennes in Västerås. The shop became an instant success and soon he opened another shop in Stockholm. In 1968, after purchasing Mauritz Widforss, the name Hennes became Hennes & Mauritz. Gradually it expanded its wing and opened stores across Denmark and Norway. In 1972, Stephen helped his father in promoting the stores and after four years he opened another store in London.
In 2002, Erling Persson died and the same year sold $550 million items and made profit of $833 million. In 2003, it started expanding in Eastern Europe with 39000 employees. Now it is the Europe’s biggest clothing retailer with 840 stores across 14 countries in the world. He is responsible for bringing reputed names such as Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney to design cloths in reasonable prices at 1900 stores.
He is the founder of a non-profit organization, the Mentor Foundation. In 2000, he has received International Award, National Retail Federation (U.S.).
According to Forbes Magazine 2007, he was the second richest man in Sweden and the world’s 17th richest man with $18.4 billion and 2010 Forbes stated that, he was the world’s 13th richest man whose net worth stood $22.4 billion.
