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Ikea’s founder is stepping down from a pivotal board position in the sprawling empire of the world’s largest furniture retailer, bringing a generational shift of control to his three sons closer to completion.
Ingvar Kamprad, the 87-year-old who founded Ikea in southern Sweden 70 years ago, will step down from the board of Inter Ikea Holding. Mr Kamprad’s youngest son Mathias will become chairman of the same group, which owns the retailer’s brand and intellectual property.
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“I see this as a good time for me to leave the board of Inter Ikea group. By that we are also taking another step in the generation shift that has been ongoing for some years,” Ingvar Kamprad said in a statement.
Mr Kamprad has now stepped down from nearly all his formal roles in the operational part of the Swedish group. In the 1980s he started to build up a complex structure to protect Ikea from potential disputes among his heirs or takeover. His three sons – Peter, Jonas and Mathias – have roles in the three main parts of his empire.
Peter chairs Ikano, the company that manages the family fortune and runs several Ikea stores as well as having the other two brothers sitting on its board. Jonas, the middle brother, is on the board of Ingka, the parent company to Ikea Group, the retailer itself. Inter Ikea is run separately and is the owner of the brand with all Ikea stores paying a royalty of 3 per cent of their revenues to it.
Mr Kamprad has remained active at Ikea even as he has withdrawn from his board roles following his retirement as chief executive in 1986. This year, he crossed swords with the managers of Ikea Group over the pace of expansion in stores with Mr Kamprad believing it should be slower than communicated.
On Wednesday, Mr Kamprad said in the statement: “This [resignation] does, however, not mean that I will stop working. My passion and engagement for the many people, the Ikea concept, simplicity and cost consciousness is as strong as ever.
“I will continue to share ideas and views. And I will continue to spend time in the stores and in the factories to work with people and help achieve constant improvement. Our journey has just started.”
Ikea’s founder still wields power through his board positions at Stichting Ingka Foundation and Interogo Foundation, which own Ikea Group and Inter Ikea respectively and are based in the Netherlands and Liechtenstein, largely for tax reasons.
The news of the generation shift came as Inter Ikea reported a fivefold increase in net profit last year and a 9 per cent increase in revenues to €2.66bn. The bulk of the increase in net profit from €87m in 2011 to €443m last year was due to the ownership of the Ikea brand being transferred from Interogo to Inter Ikea for €9bn.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
IKEA founder
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