Stefan Persson Net Worth: H&M Owner Is Richest Person In Sweden

H&M Owner Stefan Persson is the richest person in Sweden with an estimated net worth of $19 billion. Here’s how he built his massive fortune.

Persson owns around 36 percent of Hennes & Mauritz or otherwise known as H&M. He inherited it from his father, Erling Persson, who founded the fashion company in 1947. Stefan Persson worked for H&M from 1982 until 2009 when his son, Karl-Johan took over, per Forbes.

As with other mass produced fast fashion brands, H&M is embroiled in controversies regarding working conditions in its production plants. According to Celebrity Net Worth, there were allegations that their workers in a factory in Cambodia deal with poor ventilation and malnutrition, among others. Also, H&M was accused of using other artists’ work without crediting them.

Persson’s fortune makes him the richest person in Sweden. He owns the Linkenholt village. However, when his net worth is compared to rival fashion brand Zara founder Amancio Ortega’s net worth of $65 billion, the gap between the two remains wide.

On the personal side, the 73-year-old is married with three children. Their family resides in Stockholm, Sweden. Aside from H&M, Persson is also a stakeholder in an investing company called Melker Schorling. Moreover, he owns real estate company Ramsbury Invest.

When the pandemic struck in 2020, it affected different businesses. Retailers and shopping stores were not spared. The decrease in foot traffic forced clothing companies to focus more on digital sales. A lot of brick and mortar stores closed. In October 2020, around 250 H&M branches shut down amid the pandemic, a report from CNN revealed. The total store account under H&M is around 5,000 worldwide. COVID-19 also forced Zara to shut down around 1,200 branches in 2020 and next year.

H&M has several collaborations with top celebrities over the years. Among them is David Beckham, Madonna and Kylie Minogue, per Beyond Celebrity. However, it looks like the fashion brand is now tapping the services of influencers to promote and connect to more people online.

A case study made by MediaKix revealed that H&M partnered with up and coming celebrities and social media influencers to promote its holiday clothing line. The results revealed that the content of the campaign reached at least 12 million views online and registered engagement rate of 10 percent.