Giovanni Ferrero Biography & Net Worth

Giovanni Ferrero Biography & Net Worth

In today’s article, we present you secretive Nutella billionaire Giovanni Ferrero, who assembled a huge $32 billion fortune off Butterfingers, Tic Tacs, and his namesake chocolates. Mr. Giovanni is the richest man in the whole of Italy and the unpopular billionaire behind the prestigious Ferrero Group, a business entity that has grown to be known as the second-largest chocolatier in the world. The group is responsible for manufacturing Tic Tacs, Nutella, Ferrero Rocher, and several other items.

Giovanni is the current executive chairman of his family’s confections business. The firm is best known for its Tic Tac mints, Nutella chocolate-hazelnut spread, Ferrero Rocher, and Kinder chocolates. Also a part-time novelist, Giovanni served as Co-Chief Executive Officer with his brother, Pietro, who suffered a heart attack and died in 2011. In 2017, he stepped down from his Chief Executive Officer position but stayed on board as executive chairman to concentrate on corporate strategy. In January 2018 he inked an agreement with Nestle to purchase the company’s entire confections business in the United States for $2.8 billion.

Nutella has a fervent global fan base that supports Nutella cafes as well as Nutella-themed hotels, but no fan might love their products more than the magician Giovanni Ferrero, the Italian who built a multibillion-dollar wealth from the chocolatey spread. Giovanni’s father invented Nutella back in 1964, and its enormous popularity in Italy helped expand the family chocolate business into a multibillion-dollar industry that now also produces an assortment of chocolate products. Despite the popularity of its products, both Giovanni himself and the company have sustained an exceptionally low profile, to the point where their measures of security and secrecy have been compared to that of NASA.

Giovanni has been more of an engine that propels this successful family business and we deem it fit to pen down this report that provides complete details of Giovanni’s businesses and prosperous life which might interest you.

Early Life: Childhood, Family, Education

Giovanni Ferrero was born in Farigliano, Italy on 21 September 1964. He is the son of Michele Ferrero and Maria Franca Fissolo. His father, Michele, founded the multinational confectionery establishment Ferrero.

In 1975, he moved to Brussels, Belgium, to study at the European Schools. He later moved to the United States to study marketing at Lebanon Valley College.

Professional Life: Business Career, Publications

On completing his studies in the United States, he returned to Italy to work in the family company, Ferrero. In 1997, he was appointed as joint Chief Executive Officer of the company together with his brother Pietro. In April 2011, after the passing of his brother in an accident in South Africa, Giovanni became the sole Chief Executive Officer of the Ferrero Group while his father, Michele Ferrero, stayed aboard as the company’s executive chairman.

Company founder and owner, Giovanni’s father, Michele Ferrero died in 2015, and the company was left solely in Giovanni’s hands.

According to American business magazine, Forbes, it was reported that Giovanni took over the role of executive chairman and held both the titles of Chief Executive Officer and executive chairman for more than twenty-four months until he hired capable hands in Lapo Civiletti to take over the company’s Chief Executive Officer position in 2017.

The company has gotten bigger under Giovanni’s leadership. He signed the deal to purchase the entire Nestle confections business in the United States for $2.8 billion in 2018. At present time, the Ferrero Group is responsible for manufacturing Tic Tacs, Nutella, Ferrero Rocher, and several other items.

In respect to his publications, Mr. Giovanni has been credited for the following:

• Marketing progetto 2000. La gestione della complessità (1990)
• Stelle di tenebra (1999)
• Campo Paradiso (2007)
• Il canto delle farfalle (2010)

Personal Life: Family, Wife, Children

The Italian billionaire businessman has been married to Paola Rossi for many years now, and just like his public image, not so much is known about this man’s private life and family business. Together with his wife, Paola, Giovanni is the father of two sons who also occupy vital positions in the family business.

Giovanni Ferrero Net Worth: Salary, Income Sources, Brands

The Italian businessman who was born and raised in Farigliano, Italy is best known for his active involvement in the Ferrero SpA confectionary company which was initially founded and managed by his late father Michele Ferrero. Giovanni, who studied in Brussels, Belgium and later moved to the United States for a marketing degree, returned to the country of his origin to work for his family as a co-chief executive officer alongside his brother, Pietro who passed away in 2011 and left the entire Chief Executive Officer position to Giovanni. When his father died, he assumed sole leadership of the corporation and has succeeded in expanding the brand to become one of the biggest makers of chocolate products in the world. It has been reported that the company generates revenue of more than $11 billion a year and is currently employing more than 20,000 people.

Giovanni Ferrero’s net worth is $32 billion as estimated by Forbes, making him the richest man in Italy, and the 43rd richest in the world. His fortune is from his share in the fourth-largest chocolate maker in the world, Ferrero SpA. The company own over 20 candy brands including the famous Nutella spread and Tic Tac mints.