Latest news with #Kühne
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Germany's Richest Man to Pocket $9 Billion After Well-Timed Bets
(Bloomberg) -- Klaus-Michael Kühne, Germany's richest person, stands to reap at least $9.3 billion in dividends after a period of profitable growth at his expanding transport empire. Trump Administration Plans to Eliminate Dozens of Housing Offices NJ College to Merge With State School After Financial Stress Republican Mayor Braces for Tariffs: 'We Didn't Budget for This' How Upzoning in Cambridge Broke the YIMBY Mold NYC's Finances Are Sinking With Gauge Falling to 11-Year Low The windfall stems from the 87-year-old tycoon's 53% stake in Kuehne + Nagel International AG, the world's largest air and sea freight-forwarding business co-founded by his grandfather, a 15% holding in Deutsche Lufthansa AG and 30% stake in Hapag-Lloyd AG. He's the biggest investor in the German airline, having built his stake after a government bailout in 2022. And he boosted his interest in the container line in 2020, just before a boom that led to record profits. Kühne is among a clutch of European shipowners who made vast profits during the pandemic era when supply chain bottlenecks pushed up the cost of transport. Others include Gianluigi Aponte, founder of Geneva-based MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co., the clan behind A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, and the Saade family, who control Marseille-headquartered CMA CGM SA. Their businesses continued to be highly profitable in 2024 after Houthi attacks in the Red Sea drove up rates. Kühne's fortune has more than doubled over the past five years to $39.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He told German newspaper FAZ in November that the 'values that have been collected are almost frighteningly high.' Big Gains His total gains from Kuehne + Nagel will be near 2.7 billion Swiss francs ($3 billion) since the 2021 financial year, when profit and dividends increased more than two-fold. The company this week announced a higher-than-expected payout of 8.25 francs per share. Lufthansa said Thursday it plans to pay a dividend for the second year in a row, bringing Kühne's total gain to €108 million ($117 million) for 2023 and 2024. That marks a turnaround from the firm's near-bust at the onset of the pandemic, when commercial airlines grounded their fleets. Kühne's biggest bonus by far during the period has been the €5.65 billion pocketed since the 2021 financial year from Hapag-Lloyd. This doesn't take into account a payout expected to be announced later this month with full-year earnings. Still, it's not only been wins for Kühne, who has sustained losses related to failed real estate tycoon Rene Benko. He refocused on transport last year when his investment vehicle Kühne Holding teamed up with buyout firm EQT AB to acquire a stake in German bus and train operator Flix. He lost about 500 million euros at Benko's Signa Prime. 'We were completely taken for a ride,' Kuhne said. Benko 'had me wrapped around his little finger.' Kühne moved to Switzerland a half-century ago, married at the age of 52 and has no children. He created a nonprofit Swiss foundation in 1976 that focuses on logistics, medicine and climate with strong ties to Kühne Holding. They're based, along with Kuehne + Nagel, in the hillside hamlet of Schindellegi, overlooking Lake Zurich. In the FAZ interview, Kühne said that after his death his assets will be turned over to the Kühne Foundation, which will become one of the largest in Europe. 'As far as anyone can tell, the foundation is in good hands,' he was quoted as saying, citing its 12-member board of trustees that includes former Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann. Kuhne also raised the possibility in the interview of revising his plan for attorney Thomas Staehelin, 77, to succeed him as president of the foundation because of the lawyer's own advancing age. Last year, the billionaire reorganized the governance of Kühne Holding, making Dominik de Daniel CEO to replace Karl Gernandt, who remains chairman and also sits on the supervisory boards of Kuehne + Nagel, Lufthansa and Hapag-Lloyd as well as the foundation. Snack Makers Are Removing Fake Colors From Processed Foods An All-American Finance Empire Drew Billions—and a Regulator's Attention The Mysterious Billionaire Behind the World's Most Popular Vapes Rich People Are Firing a Cash Cannon at the US Economy—But at What Cost? Greenland Voters Weigh Their Election's Most Important Issue: Trump ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hamburg reaches deal with logistics magnate to build new opera house
The northern German city of Hamburg plans to build a new opera house in the Hafencity district near the port with backing from the private Kühne Foundation, city officials announced on Friday. Billionaire shipping and logistics magnate Klaus-Michael Kühne, 87, had previously announced in 2022 that he would provide up to €330 million ($343 million) for the new opera house in his home city. The city is providing the land and will also take care of the infrastructure. The location will place the new opera house not far from Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie concert hall, a landmark new concert hall completed in 2016 after massive cost overruns. In an interview with dpa, Hamburg's culture minister, Carsten Brosda described Kühne's offer as a "great gesture of patronage" that "we would also be happy to accept." A press event featuring Hamburg city officials and leaders of Kühne's foundation is planned for midday on Friday, at which the contract for planning and building the new opera house will be presented. Hamburg city leaders were initially sceptical about Kühne's proposal, but following closed-door talks local politicians have become more and more comfortable with the proposal and negotiations about the construction continued to progress behind closed doors. A new use must now be found for the existing Hamburg State Opera House. The building, which dates back to 1955, is listed as historically significant but urgently needs to be renovated. Brosda has previously that there are ideas for different possible uses for the building.
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Watch: Two daredevils walk slackline suspended between hot air balloons
Jan. 28 (UPI) -- A pair of German daredevils took a walk across a slackline suspended between two hot air balloons and earned a world record for their stroll at an altitude of 8,202 feet. Friedi Kühne and Lukas Irmler took to the skies over Riedering and walked across a slackline 8,202 feet over the ground, breaking the Guinness World Record for highest slackline walk in the process. They broke the previous record of 6,236 feet, which was set in 2021. "The main attempt of breaking the world record was pretty difficult for me," Irmler, who took the first walk, told Guinness World Records. "The pressure was really high. It was a great relief of pressure, and it was glorious moment." Kühne then followed in his friend's high-altitude footsteps. "Watching Lukas struggle on the slackline was also very intimidating for me," Kühne said. "Not only did the balloons spin the entire time, they also went up and down," he said. "At one point we were walking kind of downhill -- the next minute uphill. The tension of the line was going up and down." Kühne celebrated the successful record attempt by parachuting off the slackline.
