BMW – otherwise known as Bayerische Motoring Werke AG – is a German manufacturer of luxury vehicles and motorcycles. Headquartered in the Bavarian city of Munich, BMW was founded as Bayerische Flugzeugwerke in 1916 before it was formally renamed BMW in 1922. BMW is officially part of the BMW Group which also owns Mini, Rolls-Royce, and the motorcycle division BMW Motorrad.
Post-war production
BMW factories suffered heavy damage in World War II and after it concluded, any still standing were banned from making motor vehicles. To survive, BMW became a producer of pots, pans, and bicycles before returning to vehicle manufacturing in 1952.
But with luxury vehicle sales slow and only a small profit margin to be had on its microcars, BMW soon found itself in a financial predicament. In 1959 and with Daimler-Benz a serious chance to take it over, brothers Herbert and Harald Quandt invested in BMW to enable it to survive as a separate entity.
Herbert Quandt died in 1982, but not before he established BMW as a major player in the luxury vehicle market. Son Stefan, who once worked at Boston Consulting Group, inherited 17.4% of the company and later joined BMW’s supervisory board in 1996. There he was joined by sister Susanne Klatten who inherited 12.5% of BMW from her father.
When Quandt’s mother died in 2015, his voting stake increased to 34.19% which, under German law, triggered a compulsory takeover offer. Quandt later asked to be excused from this rule and in 2018, he acquired a blocking stake of 25.83%.
Today, Klatten is the richest woman in Germany with an estimated net worth of $21.6 billion in 2022. Stefan Quandt is also a billionaire with diverse investments in mobile phone recharge devices, logistics and freight forwarding, homeopathic preparations, and solar energy infrastructure.
BMW ownership structure
Today, 53.2% of the company’s shares are owned by the public while the remainder is owned by various members of the Quandt family.
The family’s ownership of BMW is structured in the following way:
- Aqton SE (9% of the company) – an investment holding company owned by Stefan Quandt with core interests in four sectors: automotive, digital security and identity protection, photovoltaics and smart grids, and credit rating.
- Aqton GmbH & Co. für Automobilwerte (16.6%) – another holding company headed by Stefan Quandt with a specific focus on automotive investments.
- Susanne Klatten Beteiligungs GmbH (20.7%) – an acquisition, holding, and investment management company with an emphasis on the automotive industry and mechanical engineering.
- Susanne Klatten (0.2%).
- Stefan Quandt (0.2%).
Key takeaways:
- BMW – otherwise known as Bayerische Motoring Werke AG – is a German manufacturer of luxury vehicles and motorcycles.
- With luxury vehicle sales slow and only a small profit margin to be had on its microcars, BMW found itself in a financial predicament in the 1950s. The company was ultimately saved from a Daimler-Benz takeover by brothers Herbert and Harald Quandt.
- Herbert Quandt died in 1982 and passed his 17.4% share in the company to son Stefan and 12.5% to daughter Susanne Klatten. Today, the members of the Quandt family own just under 47% of the company.
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