Michael Otto

For the American football player, see Mike Otto (American football).

Michael Otto
Born	12 April 1943 (1943-04-12) (age 68) Chełmno (Kulm), Poland
Residence	Hamburg
Citizenship	Germany
Occupation	head of Otto Group
Net worth	US$ 16.6 billion (est.) (March 2010)[1]
Spouse	Married, 2 children

Michael Otto (born 12 April 1943, in Chełmno (Kulm) in Nazi-occupied Poland), is the head of German Otto Group, the world's largest mail order company, with US$24 billion in sales in fiscal year 2003. Thanks to a 30% rise in Internet sales last year, Otto also maintains its position as the Web's second-biggest retailer, behind Amazon.com.

They were the former owners of Spiegel, Inc., (the parent company of Eddie Bauer and former owners of Spiegel catalog), which filed for bankruptcy on 17 March 2003. On 25 May 2005, Spiegel, Inc., emerged from bankruptcy renamed Eddie Bauer Holdings and is now owned primarily by Commerzbank. The Otto Group no longer has any stake in the company.

Otto and his family own extensive real estate in Canada and in the United States, shopping centers in Germany and part of home-furnishings chain Crate & Barrel. Known as a committed environmentalist, his company has long touted environmentally safe products. In 1993, he created the Michael Otto Foundation (German: Michael Otto Stiftung). This foundation played, and is still playing, an important role in furthering multi-stakeholder dialogue on hot environmental issues.

References

1. ^ "Michael Otto & family - Forbes". Forbes. 9 March 2011. http://www.forbes.com/profile/michael-otto. Retrieved May 16, 2011. 

External links

• Otto Group
• Michael Otto Foundation

Persondata
Name	Otto, Michael
Alternative names
Short description	businessman
Date of birth	12 April 1943
Place of birth	Chełmno, Poland
Date of death
Place of death