Thomas Schmidheiny

Thomas Schmidheiny is a Swiss entrepreneur, former chairman of Holcim, the cement manufacturer. He is listed by Forbes magazine as the 527th richest person in the world as of 2016, when his net worth was estimated at US$4.1 billion.

• Thomas Schmidheiny gets the bulk of his fortune from building materials giant Lafarge Holcim, which was formed via a mega-merger.
• His grand-uncle Ernt founded the family business in 1912; over time the family built an empire of bricks and cement.
• His father Max divided the estate in 1984 and Thomas inherited cement and concrete supplier Holcim. His brother Stephan got concrete supplier Eternit.
• Thomas, now honorary chairman of Holcim, left the board in 2018. He retired as chairman in 2003 after running the company for 20 years.
• Schmidheiny also has wineries in California, Argentina, and Switzerland.