Many billionaires inherit their fortunes or make their fortunes in decidedly unsexy businesses. That’s not the case with Italy’s Ferrero family. Their $22.9 billion net worth comes from the family business—Ferrero SpA—makers of Nutella and a slew of other sweet treats.
Ferrero’s father invented Nutella in 1964, and its immense popularity in Italy helped grow the family chocolate shop into a multibillion-dollar business that now also produces Ferrero Rocher, Tic Tac mints, Kinder chocolate, and Butterfinger bars, Forbes reported. Despite the ubiquity of its products, both Ferrero himself and the company have maintained an extremely low profile, to the point where their security measures have been compared to those of NASA.
Giovanni Ferrero was born in Italy in April 1964, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Ferrero attended the European School, a Belgian boarding school, according to the National Italian American Foundation.
Ferrero went on to study marketing at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pennsylvania, according to NIAF.Ferrero’s first job at the family company was for the Tic Tac brand in Belgium, according to Forbes.
The Ferrero Group originated when Ferrero’s grandfather, Pietro Ferrero, opened a chocolate shop in Alba, Italy, in 1946, Forbes reported. The store’s main product was Supercrema, a hazelnut spread born from wartime chocolate shortages; it was the precursor to Nutella.
Over 70 years later, the Ferrero Group is the world’s second-largest confectionery company. The company sold $11.9 billion worth of sweets in the fiscal year ending in August 2018, Bloomberg reported.
Thanks to various product additions and company acquisitions, the Ferrero Group’s products now include Tic Tac mints; Kinder chocolates; Baby Ruth, Butterfinger, and Crunch candy bars; and Keebler, Famous Amos, and Little Brownie Bakers cookies; in addition to Nutella and Ferrero Rocher, according to a July press
Ferrero has written eight novels, several of which are set in Africa, according to Forbes.
His most recent book, a novel entitled “Il cacciatore di luce” (“The Light Hunter”) that follows a African painter who is diagnosed with leukemia, was published in 2016 according to its Amazon page.
Ferrero runs the company from Luxembourg however, Forbes reported.
Ferrero’s father Michele lived in Monte Carlo and worked in Italy, commuting between the two locations via helicopter, according to The Washington Post, so it’s possible Ferrero has a similar arrangement.
Michele Ferrero was born on 26 April 1925 in Dogliani,[5] the son of Pietro Ferrero, who founded the Ferrero company, and his wife Piera Cillario.[1]
Ferrero was born in Turin, the elder son of Michele Ferrero,[4] who raised the firm to its position as a global leader.[5] In 1985, he began working for Ferrero, and in 1992 had risen to be in charge of European operations.[3] He became one of the company’s two CEOs in 1997, along with his brother Giovanni.[3]
On 18 April 2011, Pietro Ferrero died in South Africa near Twelve Apostles Hotel in Camps Bay, suburb of Cape Town[6] after suffering a heart attack while on a cycling track.[7]
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