Beate Heister

Beate Heister
Born
Beate Albrecht

(1951-10-05) 5 October 1951 (age 73)
NationalityGerman
SpousePeter Heister
Children6[1]
Parent(s)Karl Albrecht (father)
Mia Tenbrink (mother)
RelativesKarl Albrecht Jr. (brother)

Beate Heister (née Albrecht; born 5 October 1951) is a German billionaire heiress. She is one of the two children of Karl Albrecht, who founded the discount supermarket chain Aldi with his brother Theo. As of 2022, she was one of the five richest women in the world, according to Forbes magazine.[2] Together with her brother Karl Albrecht Jr., as of 2020, she had a net worth of US$41.3 billion, putting them at the top of Forbes list of the richest Germans.[3][4][5]

Personal life

Heister was born in 1951 in Essen and lives in Neuss, Germany.[2][6] She is married to entrepreneur Peter Heister, who is related to the Werhahn family and was the former head of Aldi South.[6] They have six children.[3][6][7]

She is "notoriously reclusive".[8][9][10][11][12] In a 2014 feature article on the Albrecht family, Manager Magazin compared Beate to her father Karl Albrecht, saying that she resembled him "especially in her sometimes uncompromising hardness".[6]

Business

Heister controls half of Aldi South, which operates more than 6,000 stores in southern Germany, the US, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and many other countries.[2] She, her husband Peter, and their son Peter Max Heister, all sit on Aldi's advisory board.[3][13] Her son Christian sits on the board of directors.[2] As of 2021, Heister remained active as a board member of the Siepmann Foundation, which takes its name from the maiden name of her paternal grandmother.[5]

References

  1. ^ "Heiresses Galore: The 10 Richest Women On Earth". RTTNews. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d "What are the 5 richest women in the world?". CE Noticias Financieras. 14 March 2022. ProQuest 2639194075. Retrieved 10 July 2023 – via ProQuest.
  3. ^ a b c "Beate Heister & Karl Albrecht Jr". Forbes. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  4. ^ "Forbes Billionaires 2023: The Richest People In The World". Forbes. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  5. ^ a b "Ein Geschwisterpaar ganz vorne: Das sind die fünf reichsten Menschen Deutschlands". Focus Online (in German). 16 June 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d Sören Jensen, Ursula Schwarzer: Eine schrecklich schräge Familie. In: Manager Magazin (in German), Nr. 12/2014, 21. November 2014, S. 35. Quote: "Beate gleicht in vielerlei Hinsicht dem Vater, besonders in ihrer zuweilen kompromisslosen Härte."
  7. ^ Schwarzer, Ursula; Freitag, Michael (23 March 2006). "Aldi: Platz für den Enkel". www.manager-magazin.de (in German). Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  8. ^ Eleanor Steafel (18 January 2016). "Just who are the nine richest women in the world?". The Telegraph. Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  9. ^ "Ranking 2023: Das sind die zehn reichsten Deutschen". www.handelsblatt.com (in German). Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  10. ^ "Karl Albrecht und die Stiftung als Top-Holding". UnternehmerKompositionen Stiftung gründen (in German). 6 June 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  11. ^ "Beate Heister und Karl Albrecht Jr". FAZ.NET (in German). 2 March 2015. ISSN 0174-4909. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  12. ^ Giesen, Christoph; Hulverscheidt, Claus (22 July 2014). "Wie Albrecht sein Geld vor dem Staat schützte". Süddeutsche.de (in German). Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  13. ^ Hielscher, Henryk (4 November 2016). "Aldi Süd : Das Discountimperium bekommt ein neues Oberhaupt". www.wiwo.de (in German). Retrieved 19 June 2023.