IKEA is a Swedish-origin Dutch-headquartered cosmopolitan group that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture, kitchen appliances, and other home accessories, coupled together with other useful goods and occasionally home services. It was established in Sweden in 1943 by 17-year-old Ingvar Kamprad.
Since 2008, IKEA has been the largest furniture retailer in the world. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index of January 2018 revealed that Kamprad was the eighth-most precious person in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$58.7 billion. The company’s name comprises of the founder’s initials (Ingvar Kamprad) plus those of Elmtaryd, the family farm where he was born, and the nearby village Agunnaryd.
Inception
Ingvar Kamprad started IKEA as a mail-order sales business in 1943 but later began to sell furniture. In 1958, he opened the first store in Älmhult, Småland, under the name Möbel-IKÉA (Möbel means “furniture” in Swedish). Besides the stores in Sweden, others were opened in Norway in 1963 and Denmark in 1969. By the 70s, the stores had spread to other parts of Europe, with the first store outside Scandinavia opening in Switzerland in 1973, followed by West Germany in 1974.
In 1973, a store was opened in Konstanz instead of Koblenz by the company’s West German executives. In the years following, stores opened in other parts of the world, such as Japan in 1974, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong in 1975, and Singapore in 1978.
In the 1980s, IKEA expanded to other countries, including France and Spain 1981, Belgium in 1984, the United States in 1985, the United Kingdom in 1987, and Italy in 1989. Germany, is IKEA’s biggest market, with 53 stores, followed by the United States, with 51 stores. The first IKEA store in Latin America opened on 17 February 2010 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Evolution
IKEA is a private company owned by Inter IKEA Systems B.V., registered in the Netherlands and managed by the sons of its founder Ingvar Kamprad. The company is known for its modern designs of various types of appliances and furniture, and its classic interior designs.
Furthermore, the company is also widely known for its attention to operational details, cost control, and continuous product development that allowed it to lower its prices by an average of two to three percent. The corporate structure of the group is a little bit complex, by which it is alleged that it was designed so to avoid over €1 billion in tax payments over the 2009–2014 period.
Presently, 433 IKEA stores are operating in 52 countries, and in the fiscal year 2018, €38.8 billion worth of IKEA goods were sold. The company’s website had over 12,000 products and 2.1 billion visitors in a frame of one year. Worldwide, the company is responsible for approximately 1% of commercial-product wood consumption, making it amongst the most significant users of wood in the retail sector.
Most of IKEA’s stores and factories are owned by INGKA, a holding company that is controlled by the Stichting INGKA Foundation. In 2018, INGKA received 90% of IKEA’s revenue.
Net Worth of IKEA in 2024
Various sources indicate that Ikea is the world’s largest furniture retailer. The founder of the Swedish company, Ingvar Kamprad, died in 2018 as the eighth-richest person in the world with control of the $58.7 billion Ikea fortune.
In his youth, Kamprad had ties to pro-Nazi groups, which he regretted and mentioned that it was his biggest mistake. Kamprad’s three sons, Peter, Jonas, and Mathias Kamprad, are all board member roles within the group of companies that make up Ikea.
Ikano Group, a $9.1 billion group of companies owned by the Kamprad brothers, was once part of Ikea but later became an independent company, although it still controls 8 Ikea stores. The areas it was involved in include real estate, banking, insurance, and retail.
Each brother has a net worth of about $1 billion.
The formation of IKEA is one of its kind. It is impressive how a simple step like Kamprad’s has turned out to be a source of a smile on people’s faces worldwide. At the age of a young man, Kamprad was bold enough to establish his own company that has kept on growing. Such boldness is worth to be noted and emulated.