Swede Ingvar Kamprad, the billionaire founder of the IKEA retail empire, whose cheap, functional furniture is a feature of homes around the world, has died at the age of 91.
As much of a national symbol as pop group ABBA and tennis ace Bjorn Borg, IKEA helped to cement the image of Swedes as practical, egalitarian and unsnobbish.
Born on March 30, 1926, in southern Sweden, Kamprad started selling matches to neighbors at the age of five and soon expanded his range to include seeds, Christmas tree decorations, pencils and ball-point pens.
Photo: EPA-EFE
He founded IKEA in 1943 when he was just 17, but did not hit gold until 1956, when the company introduced flat-pack furniture.
The idea came to him as he watched an employee taking the legs off a table to fit it into a customer’s car and realized that saving space meant saving money.
Always looking to cut costs, Kamprad bought much of IKEA’s furniture from then-communist Poland in the 1960s. He eschewed formal business suits, dressed in well-worn clothes and in later years drove an old Volvo.
Outlining the IKEA philosophy in his Testament of a Furniture Dealer in 1976, Kamprad said wasting resources was “a mortal sin.”
“We do not need fancy cars, posh titles, tailor-made uniforms or other status symbols. We rely on our own strength and our own will,” he said, in what was meant to be the company’s manifesto.
Clever design and modest prices coupled with appealing styles quickly caught on and IKEA’s warehouse-like stores now sell everything from TVs to fitted kitchens.
The company’s revenues were more than 38 billion euros (US$47.2 billion) last year and the IKEA annual catalogue is said to be more widely read than the Bible.
Despite his success in building the IKEA business, Kamprad was a controversial figure.
He was forced to apologize for his time as a member of the New Swedish Movement, a nationalist, far-right group that supported fascist parties around Europe, in the 1940s.
His decision to live abroad, mainly in Switzerland, to avoid Sweden’s high income taxes was also widely criticized.
Kamprad returned to Sweden in 2014 after a reorganization of IKEA’s complex ownership slashed his tax bill and left him with little formal influence.
The Forbes rich list, which once put him as the world’s 11th richest man, has dropped him from its rankings.
Swedes took his plain-spoken style — as well as his furniture — to heart, voting him the top entrepreneur of all time in 2014.
NEXT GENERATION: The four plants in the Central Taiwan Science Park, designated Fab 25, would consist of four 1.4-nanometer wafer manufacturing plants, TSMC said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to begin construction of four new plants later this year, with the aim to officially launch production of 2-nanometer semiconductor wafers by late 2028, Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau director-general Hsu Maw-shin (許茂新) said. Hsu made the announcement at an event on Friday evening celebrating the Central Taiwan Science Park’s 22nd anniversary. The second phase of the park’s expansion would commence with the initial construction of water detention ponds and other structures aimed at soil and water conservation, Hsu said. TSMC has officially leased the land, with the Central Taiwan Science Park having handed over the
AUKUS: The Australian Ambassador to the US said his country is working with the Pentagon and he is confident that submarine issues will be resolved Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd on Friday said that if Taiwan were to fall to China’s occupation, it would unleash China’s military capacities and capabilities more broadly. He also said his country is working with the Pentagon on the US Department of Defense’s review of the AUKUS submarine project and is confident that all issues raised will be resolved. Rudd, who served as Australian prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and for three months in 2013, made the remarks at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado and stressed the longstanding US-Australia alliance and his close relationship with the US Undersecretary
‘WORLD WAR III’: Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said the aid would inflame tensions, but her amendment was rejected 421 votes against six The US House of Representatives on Friday passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal 2026, which includes US$500 million for Taiwan. The bill, which totals US$831.5 billion in discretionary spending, passed in a 221-209 vote. According to the bill, the funds for Taiwan would be administered by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency and would remain available through Sept. 30, 2027, for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative. The legislation authorizes the US Secretary of Defense, with the agreement of the US Secretary of State, to use the funds to assist Taiwan in procuring defense articles and services, and military training. Republican Representative
TAIWAN IS TAIWAN: US Representative Tom Tiffany said the amendment was not controversial, as ‘Taiwan is not — nor has it ever been — part of Communist China’ The US House of Representatives on Friday passed an amendment banning the US Department of Defense from creating, buying or displaying any map that shows Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The “Honest Maps” amendment was approved in a voice vote on Friday as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for the 2026 fiscal year. The amendment prohibits using any funds from the act to create, buy or display maps that show Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Wuciou (烏坵), Green Island (綠島) or Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) as part of the PRC. The act includes US$831.5 billion in
RSS