Original content: Billionaire logistics business owner Klaus-Michael Kuhn is one of the richest men in Germany. Summary: Kuhn is the largest shareholder of Kuehne + Nagel, with assets valued at 33 billion euros.

" Der Spiegel " weekly issue 22, May 27, 2022, original title: His last wish

Klaus - Michael Kuhn

Original text summary:

Billionaire Logistics business owner Klaus -Michael Kuhn is one of the richest men in Germany. At the age of 85, he is still obsessed with work. Who else does he need to prove to?

Summary:

Kuhn is the largest shareholder of Kühne & Nagel, with assets valued at 33 billion euros. He never slacks off in his work. Throughout his empire, he required managers to wear suits and ties to meetings, even though he had long since retired.

This transportation company was passed down to him by his father in 1966. Today, Kuhn has developed it into a global logistics giant with 78,000 employees in 106 countries.

He and his wife Christine have no children. Through his foundation, Kuhn funds the development of medicine, logistics and culture. In the future, their assets will be mainly managed through this foundation.

He can now "lie down" completely, but he is still receiving waves of guests on the yacht of Mediterranean. He has two iPads, and one is always on standby. He is a restless, impatient and demanding man. Life without work is unimaginable to him.

When entrepreneur Kuhn sees a business opportunity, he seizes it at lightning speed. In April this year, he raised his stake in Lufthansa to 10%, surprising even industry experts. Due to the skyrocketing freight rates, a shipping company in which he participated received a profit of 1.8 billion euros. This capital had to be reinvested. Lufthansa management may have to prepare for tough shareholders.

He doesn't care much about his body. Despite suffering from cardiovascular, knee and bronchial problems, he still gets up at 6 a.m., does exercises, responds to emails as soon as possible, arrives at the office at 8.15 a.m., and leaves late in the afternoon. He only needs 5 hours of sleep a night.

Who else does he need to prove to? Why is he still working so hard?

Kuhn said that he and his wife were in their 50s when they met, and "it was too late to start a family." Before that, he "was too focused on business, and there were gains and losses."

When the Kuhns

talked about having children and training successors, they were sentimental but added: "He has also seen Children are unwilling or unable to take over the company."

As the only son in the family, Kuhn had to "take over" the company when his father was ill when he was 30 years old. Three years later, the company's headquarters moved from Hamburg to Switzerland. It's not just about tax avoidance, but also about his father's worldview. The elderly believe that the then prime minister Willy Brandt was an agent of Moscow and were worried that it would lead the country to socialism. He then considered moving the company to Canada or Argentina (Kuhn's mother was from there).

The father and son have different opinions on this issue: the elder wants to preserve his wealth, while the younger wants to upgrade the company to a world-class level as soon as possible. It was in this struggle that young Kuhn maintained his passion for proving everything to his father.

In the 1970s, Kuhn finally wanted to take a gamble. He bought five large ships and entered an area he was not very familiar with - the logistics industry. But he encountered the oil crisis . In the same year, his father passed away and did not see the company's most difficult moments.

An old acquaintance, a British businessman, helped him and bought half of the company's shares. Eleven years later, Kuhn bought back the shares. He couldn't help but lament that although he had overcome the difficulties, the loss of independence of the company had always been his nightmare, and it was also the motivation for him to persist to this day.

Company stock price and sales

He is stingy, likes to be neat, and especially cannot tolerate his subordinates not shaving. He likes to write poetry, not only to his wife, but also to various current political issues. He loves Hamburg but doesn't live there, but in Switzerland because he has to pay taxes in Germany.

Kuhn and Sons 1965

Kuhn believed that globalization depends largely on China's behavior and whether it will decouple from the United States and the West.He hopes that the Chinese will realize that open world trade will bring them more benefits.

He never hid his age and treated death like a logistical problem. They had already prepared a simple cemetery for themselves. (Authors Alexander Yong En and Alexander Kuhn, compiled by Kou Ying)