Persson is currently the richest person in Sweden and the 116th richest in the world, with a net worth of US$16 billion, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His father, Erling Persson, founded a women’s clothing store called Hennes in 1947, which later became Hennes & Mauritz (H&M).
Stefan joined the company as head of UK operations in 1976 and then succeeded his father as CEO in 1982. He stepped down in 1998 and became the company’s chairman, a role he left in May 2020.
Persson and his family are H&M’s largest shareholders, who via their family office – Ramsbury Invest AB – hold 53.4 per cent of all shares and 77.3 per cent of the votes.
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In 1997, Persson splurged some of his fortune on a 3,000-acre country estate in Wiltshire, southern England, which went on to become Ramsbury Estates.
Over the years, it bought up neighbouring estates and swelled to its current size of 19,000 acres.
Ramsbury Estates has about 7,000 acres of farmland, with a focus on wheat and barley alongside a small herd of cattle. It also has more than 2,500 acres of woodland and forest, including a river where it offers fishing, especially trout.
The estate has more than 100 cottages and houses, some of which date back to the mid-18th century. According to its website, they’re let to “a wide range of tenants, from single farm workers right up to large, bustling families”.
Persson also owns a pub – The Bell in Ramsbury, a former coaching inn that is more than 300 years old and has 10 bedrooms and a restaurant.
Like many modern farms, Ramsbury Estates has diversified. It set up a brewery in 2004, a distillery in 2014, and an oil press in 2015. As well as selling what it produces from these – its cheapest gin and vodka cost £31 (about US$40) for a 70-centilitre bottle or 24 fluid ounces – the estate offers tours of the brewery and distillery for £25 a head. The estate’s own beers and spirits are also served at the pub.
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“Diversification into new income streams is still being actively considered, to ensure stability of future revenue, while staying consistent with the ethos of the estate as a whole,” Ramsbury Estates wrote in its 2022 strategic report.
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On its website, the estate highlights the sustainability of its operations.
Persson is listed as the company’s sole director, though he doesn’t receive any pay for the role. Financial filings show that last year Ramsbury had about 80 members of staff.
The company posted £5.75 million in revenue for the first nine months of 2022, the most recent period for which earnings data is available. About three-quarters came from farming and crops. About 13 per cent came from its pub and restaurant, 9 per cent from its agency, 3 per cent from its woodland, 2 per cent from rental properties, and a small proportion from smokehouse and oil sales. Ramsbury Estates declined to comment on what exactly comprises the “agency” portion of its business.
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The H&M Group – which has about 150,000 employees globally and 4,500 stores – posted sales of 223 billion Swedish krona (about US$21.2 billion) last year. As well as H&M, it owns brands such as Cos, & Other Stories and Monki.
