The Man Behind Ikea Today
He lives in a bungalow, flies easyJet and 'dries out' three times a year... the man who founded Ikea and is worth more than £15bn
Self-made man:
Ingvar Kamprad with wife Margaretha
In his faded coat, tinted prescription glasses and scuffed shoes, he looks like just another pensioner scraping by on a tight budget. But the man pictured here is Ingvar Kamprad, the reclusive Swedish founder of Ikea. And he is worth £15.7billion. That makes him the world's seventh richest man, but the 81-year-old admits he is still "a bit tight" with money. He takes easyJet flights, drives himself around in a 15-year-old Volvo, and has furnished his modest house almost entirely with Ikea items - which he assembled himself.
He boasted that he changed his barber of many years' standing after finding another who would cut his hair for only £6. And when he arrived at a gala evening recently to collect a businessman of the year award, the security guards refused to let him in because they saw him getting off a bus when he arrived. A former Nazi sympathiser in the years immediately following the Second World War, he is a self-confessed alcoholic who admits he has an ongoing problem with drink. But he says he has it under control and adds that he "dries out" three times a year. His eagerness to save money extends to his visits to London, when he shuns taxis and prefers to use the Tube or buses. A simple life: Mr Kamprad's Swiss home, furnished almost entirely with items from Ikea
He now lives in semi-retirement with his wife Margaretha in a villa in Switzerland. The couple are often seen dining out in cheap restaurants and haggling over prices in the market. He always does his food shopping in the afternoon, when the prices in his local market start to fall. Recently, a statue of him was erected in his Swedish home town, and he was invited to cut the ribbon. It was reported that instead he untied it, folded it neatly and handed it to the mayor,
Self-made man:
Ingvar Kamprad with wife Margaretha
In his faded coat, tinted prescription glasses and scuffed shoes, he looks like just another pensioner scraping by on a tight budget. But the man pictured here is Ingvar Kamprad, the reclusive Swedish founder of Ikea. And he is worth £15.7billion. That makes him the world's seventh richest man, but the 81-year-old admits he is still "a bit tight" with money. He takes easyJet flights, drives himself around in a 15-year-old Volvo, and has furnished his modest house almost entirely with Ikea items - which he assembled himself.
He boasted that he changed his barber of many years' standing after finding another who would cut his hair for only £6. And when he arrived at a gala evening recently to collect a businessman of the year award, the security guards refused to let him in because they saw him getting off a bus when he arrived. A former Nazi sympathiser in the years immediately following the Second World War, he is a self-confessed alcoholic who admits he has an ongoing problem with drink. But he says he has it under control and adds that he "dries out" three times a year. His eagerness to save money extends to his visits to London, when he shuns taxis and prefers to use the Tube or buses. A simple life: Mr Kamprad's Swiss home, furnished almost entirely with items from Ikea
He now lives in semi-retirement with his wife Margaretha in a villa in Switzerland. The couple are often seen dining out in cheap restaurants and haggling over prices in the market. He always does his food shopping in the afternoon, when the prices in his local market start to fall. Recently, a statue of him was erected in his Swedish home town, and he was invited to cut the ribbon. It was reported that instead he untied it, folded it neatly and handed it to the mayor,