# Is Ikea's boss behind the world's richest foundation?

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2004/06/15/ikea039s-boss-behind-world039s-richest-foundation/
- Published: 2004-06-15T23:00:00+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**The latest issue of Philanthropy in Europe magazine looks at the confusion surrounding
the true value of the Stichting Ingka Foundation.**

Issue 18 of Philanthropy in Europe magazine examines the wealth of Ingvar Kamprad,
the Swede who founded furniture retail chain IKEA, and the Stichting INGKA Foundation
which reportedly owns the company.

Ingvar Kamprad was declared the world’s richest man in April 2004 by a Swedish business
journal. The weekly magazine, ‘Veckans Affärer’, claimed Kamprad had a personal 
fortune of approximately €44 billion, significantly higher than Bill Gates, whom
Forbes magazine recently valued at €39 billion.

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However, Marianne Barner, an Ikea spokesperson, denied the reports, saying: “This
is completely wrong. It’s a mistake that is made all the time. Estimating the value
of the company, including all the stores, and saying it’s all Ingvar’s, that is 
totally wrong.”

According to Barner, it is not Kamprad but a Dutch-registered foundation, the Stichting
INGKA Foundation, which owns the company. She added: “Ingvar Kamprad does not own
Ikea. Ingvar donated the concern to the Dutch Stichting INGKA Foundation in 1982.”

 * [I](https://fundraising.co.uk/2013/06/05/ikea-founder-tops-list-25-wealthiest-europeans/)**
   [KEA founder tops list of 25 wealthiest Europeans](https://fundraising.co.uk/2013/06/05/ikea-founder-tops-list-25-wealthiest-europeans/)(
   5 June 2013)**

If the Foundation is indeed Ikea’s owner, and therefore controlling assets of up
to €44 billion, it would far outstrip any other foundation in the world in wealth
and spending power. By contrast, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has assets 
of around €20 billion, and its nearest European rival, the UK’s Wellcome Trust held
assets standing at €14.2 billion as of September 2003.

Charlotte Lindgren, an Ikea press spokesperson, stated that “the foundation is charitable”
and that it was established by Kamprad to “find a long-term ownership structure 
for the company”. She added that the foundation funds different projects in the 
fields of design and architecture as well as supporting a cancer organisation in
Sweden. There has been a well-publicised donation of €27.4 million to fund the establishment
of the Ingvar Kamprad Designcentrum at Lund University of Technology, which was 
inaugurated in autumn 2002.

However, more in-depth evidence of donations is sketchy, according to Philanthropy
in Europe, and it is likely that such speculative projections of the foundation’s
wealth are inaccurate. Bo Pettersson, who wrote the original Veckans Affärer article,
estimates that the foundation is probably only worth around €12 to €15 billion.

Philanthropy in Europe’s latest issue also includes the first ever survey of philanthropy
by Poland’s richest individuals, analysis of Sweden’s other rich givers, and a focus
on rich philanthropists from Ireland, Canada and the UK.

 * **[IKEA Foundation donates €24.9 million to Unicef](https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/11/18/ikea-foundation-donates-e24-9m-unicef/)(
   18 November 2014)**
 * **[€1m donation from IKEA Foundation to the HOME Project](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/10/03/e1m-donation-from-ikea-foundation-to-the-home-project/)(
   3 October 2017)
 * **[IKEA launches Duvet That Does Good initiative, and other fundraising product news](https://fundraising.co.uk/2023/10/20/ikea-launches-duvet-that-does-good-initiative-other-fundraising-product-news/)(
   20 October 2023)**