Müller drugstore: fight for the billion-dollar inheritance
Created: 12/20/2021, 3:27 PM
By: Patricia Huber
The legacy of drugstore boss Erwin Müller is still unclear.
© Michael Gstettenbauer / Imago Images
Erwin Müller, the founder of the drugstore chain Müller, is already 89 years old.
But his legacy is not yet clear.
Now the battle for the billionaire's favor is breaking out with full force.
Ulm - It's about power and money - a lot of money.
Namely about the drugstore boss Erwin Müller.
The founder of the famous Müller * chain is now 89 years old.
But his successor has not yet been clarified, as
reported by
manager magazin
.
In 1973 the trained hairdresser from Ulm founded his empire.
Müller currently has 879 branches in seven different countries with around 35,000 employees.
Forbes magazine estimates Müller's fortune at over two billion euros.
Müller: No legacy known yet
"You can scold me for a liar or an old donkey if I'm still in the company at 65," Müller is said to have said at the celebration for his 60th birthday.
Today, 29 years later, he has still not retired.
Maybe also because he has not yet found a worthy heir to his empire.
In recent years, quite a few people have tried to get the popular post.
His son Reinhard and his granddaughter Amelie didn't seem to have a chance.
On the other hand, Günther Helm, who made a career for the Austrian Aldi subsidiary Hofer, is very popular.
He is the CEO of Müller-Holding and was once promised a stake.
Günther Helm, CEO of Müller-Holding, is also in the running for the drugstore legacy.
© Hans Klaus Techt / dpa
But then there was also another Austrian, Walter Schiefer, who was very much in Müller's favor.
In 2017 he became a board member of the Erwin Müller private foundation in Austria, to which the drugstore boss transferred 35.4 percent of his company shares.
Müller-Erbe: Wife Anita also plays a role
But slate was not particularly popular in Müller's environment.
Was sometimes even called an inheritance sneak.
Helm wasn't a big fan either. After a review by Müller's auditing department and Deloitte's auditors, slate was gone.
There were allegations of infidelity in the room.
While Helm still hopes to be able to take over at some point, Müller's focus is
now increasingly on his wife Anita, who was a former secretary in the drugstore empire,
according to
manager magazin
.
She actually takes care of customer service, but we can hear from the company that she also checks bills, read e-mails, checks access to her husband and even makes decisions about careers.
Whether Günther Helm, Anita Müller or someone completely else will take over the drugstore chain * has not yet been clarified.
In any case, one thing is clear: The Müller power structure is confused and the favor of boss Erwin Müller is hotly contested.
(ph) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.