Who actually owns a company? The German drugstore chain dm offers a surprising answer: half is owned by a foundation, and the other half by a billionaire. In Switzerland, too, Rolex and Victorinox demonstrate how entrepreneurial families secure their life’s work for the long term and what role foundations can play in this process.
When dm founder Götz Werner made arrangements for his succession, he decided against a traditional bequest of his company’s assets. He transferred his stake to the nonprofit dm-Werner Foundation, which he had established in 2005. His seven children did not receive any direct shares in the company. His business partner, Günther Lehmann, chose a different path: In 2016, he transferred his shares to his son, Kevin David Lehmann, who was 14 at the time, making him one of the world’s youngest billionaires.
Two different decisions that raise a fundamental question: Should wealth created through entrepreneurship remain within the family, or should it serve a greater purpose in the long term?
Swiss Parallels: Rolex and Victorinox
Such ownership models are also common in Switzerland. A prominent example is the watchmaker Rolex. The company is owned by the Fondation Hans Wilsdorf, which was founded in 1945. The foundation ensures the company’s long-term independence and uses its proceeds to support charitable projects in areas such as education, culture, social welfare, and health. In this way, it combines economic ownership with philanthropic activity.
The Elsener family of entrepreneurs followed a similar path. In 2000, they transferred the long-established company Victorinox to two foundations. The Victorinox Foundation holds 90 percent of the company’s shares and is intended to ensure the company’s economic independence and long-term survival. The remaining 10 percent is owned by the nonprofit Carl and Elise Elsener-Gut Foundation, which supports social and charitable projects. With this structure, the family sought to prevent inheritance disputes or individual financial interests from jeopardizing the company’s future.
These are just two examples from a long list of cases in which entrepreneurship and social impact are linked through foundation structures. The Kühne Foundation, whose founder recently passed away, has also been in the spotlight; as a result, one of Europe’s largest foundations will soon be established.
Foundations as Business Owners
These two examples illustrate that foundations can be much more than traditional funding organizations. As business owners, they assume economic responsibility, preserve wealth across generations, and can simultaneously foster social impact. Particularly in the context of succession planning, such models offer alternatives to the traditional transfer of ownership within the family or sale to external investors.
However, foundation ownership does not automatically imply that a foundation is a nonprofit. While some foundations are primarily concerned with ensuring the continued existence of a company, others explicitly pursue nonprofit goals. The decisive factors are the foundation’s specific purpose, its governance structure, and the actual use of its proceeds. Issues of transparency and oversight also become increasingly important when foundations manage significant economic assets.
Who should benefit from this wealth in the long term?
In light of upcoming business succession plans and intergenerational wealth transfers, such ownership models could also come more into focus in Switzerland. They offer entrepreneurial families the opportunity to secure their life’s work for the long term while simultaneously embedding social responsibility within their organizational structure.
The examples of dm, Rolex, and Victorinox show that ownership does not necessarily have to be tied to individual people or generations. Rather, it can be structured in such a way that economic continuity and social commitment endure over the long term. For philanthropy, this opens up a perspective that goes beyond the traditional allocation of grants. The crucial question, therefore, is not only who owns a company, but also what purpose its assets should serve in the long term.
Special Report: Corporate Philanthropy
Source and Inspiration: Who Owns dm? The Drugstore Chain’s Owners and Foundation
