Johann Rupert

Johann Peter Rupert (born 1 June 1950) is the eldest son of the late Afrikaner South African business tycoon Anton Rupert and his wife Huberte Rupert. He is the chairman of the Swiss-based luxury-goods company Richemont as well as of the South Africa-based companies VenFin and Remgro.

Rupert grew up in the South African town of Stellenbosch where he still lives, and where he also attended the University of Stellenbosch, studying economics and company law. He dropped out of university to pursue a career in business but in 2004 Stellenbosch University awarded him an Honorary Doctorate in Economics.

Rupert and his wife Gaynor have three children.

Described as "reclusive" by the Financial Times of London, Rupert rarely gives interviews and shuns public events.

Business career

Rupert served his business apprenticeship in New York, where he worked for Chase Manhattan for two years and for Lazard Freres for three years. He then returned to South Africa in 1979 and founded Rand Merchant Bank of which he was CEO. He started the Small Business Development Corporation in same year (+/- 500,000 jobs created since inception).

* 1984: Rupert merged RMB and Rand Consolidated Investments, and left to join his father's company, the Rembrandt Group.

* Rupert founded Compagnie Financiere Richemont in 1988 and was appointed Non-Executive Director of Rothmans International plc in 1988. He was elected “Businessman of the Year” by the Sunday Times in the same year.

* 1989: Rupert was appointed Vice Chairman of the Rembrandt Group.

* 1990: Elected by Die Burger newspaper and the Cape Town Chamber of Commerce as the business leader of the year. He also formed the Vendôme Luxury Group SA.

* 1991: Rupert was appointed Chairman of Rembrandt Group Limited and in 1992 he was elected one of 200 "Global Leaders of Tomorrow" by the World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland.

* 1993: Received the M.S. Louw Award by the A.H.I. ("Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut").

* 1994: Appointed Chairman of the Small Business Development Corporation Limited ("SBDC").

* 1995: Formed Nethold SA, bought into Telepui and Mediaset.

* 1995: Privatised Rothmans International plc. Merged Rothmans International and Rembrandt Tobacco.

* 1996: Elected Sunday Times Business Times's Businessman of the Year for second time.

* 1996: Merged Nethold into Canal+.

* 1997: Appointed Non-Executive Chairman of Gold Fields South Africa Ltd.

* 1997: Appointed to the Advisory Council of GEMS Oriental and General Fund.

* 1998: Merged Rothmans International and British American Tobacco PLC.

* 1999: Awarded the 1999 Free Market Award by The Free Market Foundation of South Africa.

* 2000: Restructured Rembrandt Group Limited and formed Remgro Limited and VenFin Limited. Appointed Chairman and Chief Executive of Compagnie Financière Richemont SA. Voted “Most influential Business Leader” in South Africa by CEO’s of top 100 Listed Companies

* 2000: Awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Economics by the University of Stellenbosch.

* 2000: Rupert played a key role in the establishment of Vodacom, the leading cellular communication specialist group in Africa, as well as in Tracker Network (Pty) Ltd, which specialised in stolen vehicle recovery systems. He sold Vodacom to Vodafone for R21bn via the restructuring of VenFin.

* 2004: Although he continued as Executive Chairman, he resigned as the CEO of Richemont in September 2004 after 15-month period of leading the company's turnaround.

* 2006: According to the 2006 edition of "Forbes"' list of the world's richest people, the Rupert family is 207th, with a worth estimated at approximately USD 3.3 billion.

* 2007 Elected to South African Sports Hall of Fame

* 2008 Awarded Honorary Doctorate in Commerce from Nelson Mandela University.

Other Interests

Rupert is a former cricketer and helped to create the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, which funds 65 projects globally, with the goal of using sport to tackle social issues, having a particular emphasis on underprivileged children. He co-founded the Sports Science Institute [http://www.ssisa.com/ Sports Science Institute of South Africa] ] with his friends Morne du Plessis and Tim Noakes.

Rupert also developed the Gary Player-designed, Leopard Creek Golf Club in Mpumalanga, South Africa which is one of South Africa's best golf courses, and rated number 25 outside the United States of America (Golf Digest))

He serves as Chairman of the South African PGA Tour and Chairman of the South African Golf Development Board. Following his younger brother Anthonij's tragic death in a car accident in 2001 he took over the "L'Ormarins" wine estate. Anthonij, was head of Rupert & Rothschild Vignerons. Rupert initiated a project to enhance the farm in memory of his late brother.

He was council member of The South Africa Foundation and trustee of the Southern African Nature Foundation, The Institute of Directors in Southern Africa, Business South Africa and "Die Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns" and Managing Trustee and member of the investment committee, "Nelson Mandela Children's Fund". He served on the Daimler Chrysler International Advisory Board.

Following in the footsteps of his father, Anton, Johann Rupert is also a committed conservationist.

Controversies

He was once rumoured to have been interested in buying the English Premier League football side Blackburn Rovers, but he subsequently emphatically denied it. In an interview with the South African online publication Moneyweb, Rupert explained in detail how the confusing international report had come about. [http://www.moneyweb.co.za/mw/view/mw/en/page55?oid=142537&sn=Detail Johann Rupert: Executive chairman, Richemont.] [http://www.moneyweb.co.za "Moneyweb"] , 22 June 2007.] Blackburn Rovers has a strong link to South African football through both former National team captain Aaron Mokoena and striker Benni McCarthy who were both on Blackburn's books. He was also linked with the South African consortium that made a £300million bid for Newcastle United, on the 1st October 2008. He went on to deny these links on the 3rd October 2008, saying he has "absolutely no interest and no knowledge" (of the takeover bid).

When the British design magazine "Wallpaper*" described the Afrikaans language as "the ugliest language in the world" in its September 2005 edition (in reference to the Afrikaans Language Monument), Rupert responded by withdrawing advertising for his companies' brands such as Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Montblanc and Alfred Dunhill from the magazine. [http://business.iafrica.com/news/657706.htm Rupert snubs mag over Afrikaans slur.] [http://IAfrica.com iAfrica.com] , 5 December 2005.]

References