Best known for its luxury brands Cartier and Montblanc, the South African Rupert family owns Swiss, high-end-goods holding company Compagnie Financiere Richemont. Johann Rupert serves as Chairman of the company that was formed in 1998 through a spinoff of assets from his father’s company, Rembrandt Group Limited.
Anton Rupert started his tobacco company in the 1940s, establishing Rembrandt Ltd. and consolidating his overseas tobacco business into Rothmans in 1972. In 1998, Rembrandt split into two entities: Remgro, with interests in mining and finance, and Richemont, with a group of Swiss Luxury companies. Anton’s son, Johann Rupert, spent time in Wall Street’s banking industry before returning to South Africa and establishing his Rand Merchant Bank in 1976. Following the death of his vigneron, younger brother Anthonij, Rupert took over the family’s wine interests and his brother’s L’Ormarins wine estate. After the passing of his father in 2006, Johann Rupert assumed the Chairs of both Remgro and Richemont.
Well-known conservationists, the Rupert family has established several environment-centric charities and are vocal opponents of fracking. Johann’s wife, Gaynor Rupert, breeds race horses and runs the family’s renowned stud farms. The estimated net worth of the Rupert family is $6.1 billion.
