From Selling Chocolate to Becoming Italy's Richest Person
Giovanni Ferrero has become one of the world’s wealthiest billionaires thanks to the food and chocolate business built by his family through the Ferrero Group.
Giovanni Ferrero’s name consistently appears on the Forbes list of world billionaires. Currently, he is recorded as the second-richest person in Italy, with a net worth reaching US$47.3 billion.
Giovanni holds the 38th position among the world’s wealthiest individuals due to the food and chocolate business via the Ferrero Group. He is the figure behind some of the world’s most popular chocolate products, including Nutella, Kinder, Ferrero Rocher, TicTac, and Butterfinger.
Giovanni took over the leadership of the Ferrero Group as sole CEO after his brother, Pietro Ferrero, passed away in 2011. Following the death of Michele Ferrero in 2015, Giovanni assumed full control of the company as Executive Chairman.
In that same year, he acquired the British chocolate company Thornton for US$170 million, or approximately Rp2.6 trillion. Subsequently, in 2018, after stepping down from his CEO title to focus on his role as Executive Chairman, the Italian national purchased Butterfinger and Nestle’s confectionery business unit, Babyruth, for US$2.8 billion, or Rp43 trillion.
Beyond his business endeavours, the father of two is also a novelist who has published eight books. He is known for keeping his personal life strictly private from the public.
The foundations of Ferrero were laid during the Second World War when Pietro Ferrero developed hazelnut-based products as an alternative to the scarce chocolate available at the time. Ferrero subsequently grew into one of the world’s largest chocolate companies decades after the war ended.
History records that the Ferrero business journey began in the shadows of the First World War. In 1923, after serving in the military, Pietro Ferrero opened a pastry shop in Dogliani, in north-western Italy. A year later, Pietro married Piera Cillario, and Michele Ferrero, Giovanni’s father, was born in 1925.
The family spent several decades moving between various towns. In 1938, they moved to East Africa with plans to sell biscuits to the Italian troops sent there by Mussolini.
When the Second World War began, the Ferrero family settled in the hills of Alba. It was there that Pietro found his greatest success. Encouraged by his younger brother, he began experimenting with a cheaper alternative to chocolate, which was a luxury unaffordable in Italy during the war.
As reported by Fine Dining Lovers, Nutella chocolate spread can generate annual sales of up to US$19 billion. As a result, Nutella has successfully become the most famous hazelnut chocolate spread in the world.