Dieter Schwarz
| Net worth | $67.2 billion Forbes 2026 list, March 24, 2026[1] |
|---|---|
| World rank | 29th (Forbes 2026)[1] |
| Source of wealth | Retail (Lidl, Kaufland) |
| Companies | Schwarz Group (owner): Lidl, Kaufland |
| Citizenship | Germany |
| Born | September 24, 1939, Heilbronn, Germany |
| Known for | Building Lidl; richest person in Germany |
| Net worth figures are estimates by the source named and change every day. | |
Dieter Schwarz is a German businessman who owns the Schwarz Group and built the discount supermarket chain Lidl and the hypermarket chain Kaufland.[2] On the Forbes 2026 billionaires list, a snapshot taken on March 24, 2026, he was 29th in the world with an estimated $67.2 billion, the richest person in Germany.[1]
Net worth
- 2009: about €10 billion.[2]
- 2023: $47.2 billion, the richest person in Germany on the Forbes list.[2]
- March 2026: $67.2 billion, 29th on the Forbes list.[1]
Since 1999 his shares in Lidl and Kaufland have been held by the Dieter Schwarz Foundation, a charitable company, and he decides how much of the profit goes into it.[2]
How the fortune was made
In 1968 Schwarz and his father opened their first supermarket, called Handelshof, in Backnang.[2] In 1973 he opened his first discount store in Ludwigshafen. He did not want to use his own name, because "Schwarzmarkt" means black market in German, so he bought the right to the name "Lidl" from a retired teacher and artist, Ludwig Lidl.[2] By 2022 Lidl had about 12,000 stores in Europe and the United States, the largest discount chain in the world by number of stores.[2] The first Kaufland opened in Neckarsulm in 1984; by 2020 there were more than 1,470 in Europe.[2]
Giving
The Dieter Schwarz Foundation supports education, children's daycare, science and research.[2]
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Forbes, "Dieter Schwarz", 2026 World's Billionaires list (snapshot of March 24, 2026), read November 3, 2026. Net worth is a Forbes estimate.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Wikipedia, "Dieter Schwarz", read November 3, 2026. Billionaire Wiki's text is written in its own words; facts are checked against this article and its sources.