Feodor Ingvar Kamprad was a Swedish businessman born on March 30, 1926, and died on January 27, 2018. He started IKEA in 1943 and helped it grow into a large company that sells furniture in many countries. In 2008, IKEA became the world's largest furniture seller. In 1976, he moved to Switzerland with his wife. After his wife passed away in 2011, he returned to Småland in 2014.
Early life and family
Ingvar Kamprad was born in Pjätteryd, which is now part of Älmhult Municipality in Småland, Sweden. His parents were Feodor Kamprad (1893–1984) and Berta Linnea Matilda Nilsson (1901–1956). His mother was from Sweden, while his father was born in the German Empire and moved to Sweden with his parents when he was one year old. Kamprad’s father’s father, Achim Erdmann Kamprad, was from a noble German family in Altenburger Land, Thuringia. His father’s mother, Franzisca (“Fanny”) Glatz, was born in Radonitz (Radonice), Bohemia, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. She came from a family of lower social standing. Achim and Franzisca likely left Germany because of family rejection and financial struggles. After seeing an advertisement in a hunting magazine, they purchased a timber estate near Agunnaryd, Sweden, and moved there with their children in the winter of 1896.
The surname Kamprad comes from the word “Kamerade,” which means “comrade” in German. It has been used since the 14th century. In the 19th century, the Kamprad family became wealthy landowners in Thuringia. Achim Kamprad’s mother was a distant relative of Paul von Hindenburg. Achim was the younger son of an estate owner and bought a farm called Elmtaryd (now called Älmtaryd) near Agunnaryd, which is now part of Ljungby Municipality in Småland. The farm covered 449 hectares (1,110 acres) and was the largest in the area. Achim died a few years after his son Feodor was born, leaving the farm to Franzisca and later to Feodor. From the age of 6, Ingvar Kamprad lived on the farm with his parents, sister, and grandmother.
Kamprad visited his family’s ancestral home in Thuringia and stayed in contact with relatives there.
Career
Kamprad began developing a business as a young boy. At age five, he started selling matches. When he was seven, he rode his bicycle to sell goods to neighbors in nearby areas. He discovered he could buy matches in large amounts for a low price in Stockholm, sell them individually for a small cost, and still earn a profit. Over time, he expanded his business to sell fish, Christmas decorations, seeds, and later ballpoint pens and pencils. At age 17, Kamprad’s father gave him money as a reward for doing well in school.
Ingvar attended Gothenburg’s Handelsinstitut, now part of Hvitfeldtska Gymnasiet, from 1943 to 1945. In 1943, when he was 17, Kamprad started IKEA at his uncle Ernst’s kitchen table. In 1948, Kamprad added furniture to his business. His company mainly sold products through mail order. The name IKEA comes from the initials of his name (Ingvar Kamprad), the name of the family farm where he was born (Elmtaryd), and the nearby village where he grew up (Agnarnaryd).
In June 2013, Kamprad left the board of Inter IKEA Holding SA. His youngest son, Mathias Kamprad, took over as chairman of the holding company from Per Ludvigsson. Kamprad explained his decision to step down by saying, “I see this as a good time for me to leave the board of Inter IKEA Group. By doing so, we are also taking another step in the generation shift that has been ongoing for some years.” Mathias, along with his two older brothers who also hold leadership roles at IKEA, help guide the company’s long-term vision and strategy.
Net worth and Stichting INGKA Foundation
The Stichting INGKA Foundation, which is based in the Netherlands, is named after Ingvar Kamprad. The name combines parts of his name (ING from "Ingvar" and KA from "Kamprad") and is connected to INGKA Holding, the main company that operates all IKEA stores. Kamprad was the leader of the foundation.
In 2004, a Swedish business magazine called Veckans Affärer reported that Kamprad was among the wealthiest people in the world. However, this report assumed Kamprad owned the entire company, which IKEA and the Kamprad family disagreed with. They explained that Kamprad did not own most of the company, as he had given his share to the foundation.
In March 2010, Forbes magazine estimated Kamprad’s wealth at $23 billion, making him the 11th richest person globally. By 2011, his ranking dropped to 162nd after his lawyers showed proof that the foundation he created in Liechtenstein owns IKEA. The foundation’s rules prevent Kamprad and his family from using its money for personal benefit. In June 2015, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index listed Kamprad as the 8th richest person with a net worth of $58.7 billion. At the same time, Forbes estimated Kamprad’s net worth in March 2015 to be $3.5 billion.
Works
Although he was usually a private person, Kamprad wrote several important books. In 1976, he wrote a book called A Testament of a Furniture Dealer where he shared his ideas about living simply and saving money. He also co-authored a book titled Leading by Design: The IKEA Story with Swedish journalist Bertil Torekull. In this book about his own life, Kamprad explained his ideas and described the challenges and successes of starting the IKEA company.
Fascist involvement
In 1994, personal letters from the Swedish fascist Per Engdahl were shared with the public after his death. These letters showed that Ingvar Kamprad joined Engdahl’s pro-fascist group called the New Swedish Movement (Nysvenska Rörelsen) in 1942, when he was 16 years old. Kamprad remained active in the group until September 1945. It is not known when he left the group, but he stayed friends with Engdahl until the early 1950s.
Kamprad wrote about his time in Nysvenska Rörelsen in two chapters of his book Leading by Design: The IKEA Story. In a letter to IKEA employees in 1994, he called his connection to the group the "greatest mistake of my life." He explained that his teenage involvement in the New Swedish Movement was influenced by his father and grandmother, who lived in Sudet-Germany.
According to information from 2011, Kamprad had stronger connections to Nazi groups than previously known. In a book by author Elisabeth Åsbrink, it was revealed that Kamprad helped recruit members for the Swedish Nazi group Svensk Socialistisk Samling (SSS) during his youth. Swedish security police recorded his activities in 1943, the same year he started IKEA. Earlier, Kamprad had admitted to being linked to fascist leader Per Engdahl and being part of the New Swedish Movement from 1942 to 1945. However, Åsbrink’s research suggests Kamprad’s connections to Nazi supporters lasted beyond World War II. In a 2010 interview, Kamprad called Engdahl "a great man," showing he still admired him. Kamprad had earlier described his time with these groups as the "greatest mistake" of his life.
Personal life
Kamprad and his first wife, Kerstin Wadling, adopted a daughter named Annika in 1958. Wadling and Kamprad divorced in 1961, and Annika lived with her mother after the divorce.
In the 1960s, Kamprad married his second wife, Margaretha Kamprad-Stennert (1938–2011). He met her when she was twenty years old. Together, they had three sons: Peter, Jonas, and Mathias.
From 1976 to 2014, Kamprad lived in Épalinges, a town in Canton Vaud, Switzerland. In March 2014, he returned to Småland, Sweden, after nearly forty years away. Earlier in his career, while working with furniture manufacturers in Poland, Kamprad struggled with alcoholism. In 2004, he stated that his drinking was under control. According to The New York Times, he managed this by stopping drinking completely three times each year.
In a 2006 interview, Kamprad said he drove a 1993 Volvo 240, flew in economy class, and encouraged IKEA employees to use both sides of paper when writing or printing. He also recycled tea bags and kept salt and pepper packets from restaurant meals. Kamprad was known to visit IKEA for inexpensive meals and often bought wrapping paper and gifts during post-Christmas sales. The company he founded is still recognized for its focus on cost-control, attention to operational details, and ongoing product development. These efforts helped the company lower prices by an average of 2–3% over ten years while expanding globally.
In his book Testament of a Furniture Dealer, Kamprad explained his social philosophy: "It is not only for cost reasons that we avoid the luxury hotels. We don't need flashy cars, impressive titles, uniforms, or other status symbols. We rely on our strength and our will!" Kamprad owned a villa in Switzerland, a large country estate in Sweden, and a vineyard in Provence, France. He also drove a Porsche for several years.
Death
Kamprad died peacefully from pneumonia at his home in Småland, Sweden, on January 27, 2018, when he was 91 years old.
According to his will, half of Kamprad’s estate would be used to support projects in Norrland, the northern part of Sweden that has few people. Kamprad wanted to help develop Norrland and encourage young people to live there.
The other half of his estate went to his four children. In 2015, it was reported that Kamprad named his sons as the only heirs of an organization called the Ikano Group, which is worth US$1.5 billion. His adopted daughter, Annika, who lived with him for three years when she was a baby, was planned to receive about $300,000.