• Newsfeed

The Billionaire Who Founded Ikea Is So Frugal He Only Wears Second-Hand Clothes

1 minute read
Swede Ingvar Kamprad, founder of furniture retail chain IKEA, announces a donation of 500'000 Swiss ..
Swede Ingvar Kamprad, founder of furniture retail chain IKEA, announces a donation to Lausanne's Cantonal School of Art during a news conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, March 20, 2006STR New/Reuters
By Mark Rivett-Carnac

Extreme frugality is the secret to untold wealth, if the habits of billionaire Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad are anything to go by.

The mogul is so thrifty, he stocks his wardrobe with second-hand clothes. “I don’t think I’m wearing anything that wasn’t bought at a flea market,” Kamprad says in an upcoming documentary for Swedish television, according to Agence France-Presse.

He also prefers cheap haircuts, explaining in a 2008 interview with Swedish newspaper Sydsvenskan:“Normally, I try to get my haircut when I’m in a developing country. Last time it was in Vietnam.”

Kamprad, who turns 90 on March 30, said penny-pinching helped Ikea’s success. It probably also helped him amass a fortune worth more than $40 billion, according to a Bloomberg estimate.

[AFP]

More Must-Reads from TIME

Write to Mark Rivett-Carnac at mark.rivett-carnac@timeasia.com