Johann Rupert

Johann Rupert

Johann Peter Rupert (born 1 June 1950) is the eldest son of the late South African business tycoon Anton Rupert and his wife Huberte Rupert. He is the chairman of the Swiss-based luxury-goods company Richemont as well as of the South Africa-based company Remgro. It was announced on 13 November 2009 that as of 1 April 2010, he would also assume the position of Chief Executive Officer of Compagnie Financiere Richemont.

Rupert grew up in the South African town of Stellenbosch, where he also attended the well-known school for boys, Paul Roos Gymnasium and the University of Stellenbosch, studying economics and company law. He dropped out of the university to pursue a career in business but in 2004 Stellenbosch University awarded him an honorary doctorate in economics. In 2008 he was awarded an honorary doctorate in commerce from Nelson Mandela University.

Described as "reclusive" by the Financial Times and Barron's, Rupert rarely gives interviews and shuns public events. In 2006 the same newspaper also called him "Rupert the Bear" for predicting a world economic crisis.