Karl Hans Albrecht (1920–2014) was a German retail businessman. Germany’s wealthiest man, he was the co-founder with his younger brother Theo of the German discount chain Aldi.
Born in Essen, Rhine Province, Weimar Republic, the Albrecht brothers served in the Wehrmacht during World War II. After the war, the brothers assumed control over their mother’s small grocery store in Essen. The Allied bombing had not destroyed it.
The Albrecht brothers used their store as groundwork for a pared-down grocery business, merchandising the bare necessities to a war-torn society and decreasing the waste connected with perishable foods.
The brothers called their store Aldi, an acronym for “Albrecht discount,” and fixated on relentless price-cutting. By 1960, Aldi had over 300 shops in West Germany. The two brothers fell out over the issue of whether to sell tobacco. Theo established “Aldi North,” which sold tobacco, and Karl took “Aldi South,” which did not. Today, the two Aldi chains together manage over 10,000 stores around the world.
In 1993, the brothers engaged outside managers to run the business and gradually instituted their respective families’ foundations to assume their companies’ ownership. Karl retired in 2002.
The Albrecht brothers remained reclusive throughout their lives, especially after Theo was abducted and held for 17 days in 1971 (he was freed uninjured after a massive payout.) The brothers took their frugality to the extreme and insisted on wearing cheap, poorly-fitting suits and using pencil stubs to the limit.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Karl Albrecht
Albrecht’s Law – Intelligent people, when assembled into an organization, will tend toward collective stupidity.
—Karl Albrecht
Topics: Organization
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