Johann Rupert's tremendous business empire: all the companies he owns

Johann Rupert is a well-known and successful businessman in South Africa, with stakes in several top South African and worldwide firms.

With an estimated net worth of roughly $11 billion, he ranks second on the Forbes African Billionaires List (R205 billion).

Johann Rupert and his family are also well-known for their charitable contributions.

Thousands of people have been hired by the Rupert firms, and Johann Rupert has been the highest individual taxpayer in South Africa for the past 20 years.

The Rupert family has a long history of sponsoring educational institutions, educational programmes, and environmental concerns in South Africa.

Johann’s father, Anton Rupert, was active in the National Parks Trust of South Africa and helped create the World Wide Fund for Nature’s South African activities.

Johann Rupert and his family have donated to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, the South African College of Tourism, and Ikamva Labantu.

The Rupert Education Foundation sponsors a variety of educational development activities aimed at uplifting and supporting South African children and youth.

Giving impoverished people land and dwellings is one of the causes Johann Rupert and his wife Gaynor are most passionate about.

The family has sponsored 2,000 title deeds in Stellenbosch and Graaff-Reinet.

Johann Rupert’s wealth explained

Johann is Anton Rupert’s eldest son, and his initiatives in the 1940s constitute the foundation of the Rupert family’s riches.

In the 1940s, Anton Rupert founded Voorbrand, a tobacco firm. Rembrandt, which joined the South African cigarette and tobacco sector in 1948, was inspired by Voorbrand.

Rembrandt was a huge success in South Africa, listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange less than a decade after its inception.

In the 1970s, Rembrandt moved into new areas such as finance, mining, engineering, and food.

Johann Rupert studied economics at the University of Stellenbosch at this time, but dropped out to pursue a career in business.

In New York, he worked for Chase Manhattan and Lazard Freres before returning to South Africa in 1979 to establish Rand Merchant Bank (RMB).

He was the CEO of RMB until 1984, when it combined with Rand Consolidated Investments to establish RMB Holdings.

He exited the company to work for Rembrandt.

He split off Rembrandt’s overseas holdings soon after joining his father’s firm to launch Compagnie Financiere Richemont, a Swiss luxury goods holding company that includes names such as Cartier and Montblanc.

He was named chairman of Rembrandt in 1991.

In 1995, Rembrandt and Richemont merged their tobacco businesses in Rothmans International. It combined these holdings with those of British American Tobacco a few years later.

Rembrandt was split into two publicly listed holding companies, Remgro and Venfin, in 2000, which resulted in significant changes.

Remgro was in charge of Rembrandt’s conventional assets, while Venfin was in charge of the technology-oriented assets.

Remgro and VenFin combined less than a decade later to establish Remgro, of which Johann Rupert is now chairman.

Rupert was named chairman and CEO of Richemont in 2000, and the company’s non-luxury operations were split off into Reinet Investments in 2008.

Rupert is now the chairman of Remgro, Richemont, and Reinet.

With a market value of R1.51 trillion, Richemont is the largest of the three firms. Reinet comes in second with a market valuation of €3.76 billion (R73.63 billion), while Remgro is slightly smaller with a market cap of R72.98 billion.

The three corporations have stakes in a variety of domestic and foreign businesses across a wide range of industries.

All the companies Johann Rupert has a share in

Remgro

Remgro’s wide portfolio includes companies in healthcare, consumer products, media, and financial services. Local shares account for more than 70% of the company’s portfolio.

Richemont

Richemont’s portfolio is dominated by jewellers and luxury watchmakers, although some of its companies also manufacture leather products, pens, weapons, and luxury clothes.

Reinet

According to the 2022 annual report, Pension Insurance Company is Reinet’s largest investment, accounting for 47.5% of the company’s portfolio. British American Tobacco ranks in second, with 31% of the market.

Trilantic Capital Partners, TruArc Partners, and United States property development and mortgages are among the other assets highlighted in the 2022 report.