Wolfgang Grupp makes his successor at the head of Trigema dependent on his children's choice of partner
Created: 05/25/2022Updated: 05/25/2022, 15:40
By: Sina Alonso Garcia
It is not yet clear who will follow in Papa Grupp's footsteps - Wolfgang Grupp Junior (32, left) or his sister Bonita (30, right).
© Sebastian Gollnow/dpa
Both children of Trigema boss Wolfgang Grupp have a permanent place in the company.
However, only one of them can take over the company.
Burladingen - Wolfgang Junior or Bonita?
Things remain exciting at Grupp.
It is still not finally clear which of the children will succeed the father.
One thing is certain: only one of the two can become managing director.
The company is still headed by her 80-year-old father, Wolfgang Grupp, who, as a registered businessman, is liable for Trigema with his entire fortune.
Anyone who follows in his footsteps inherits a huge responsibility - and yet both children would be willing to do so, as BW24 reports.
"I'm here to stay here," says Wolfgang Grupp Junior in an interview with
Zeit Online
.
The 32-year-old is responsible for business customers and IT projects at Trigema.
He is currently planning a "polo shirt vending machine" as a replacement for seamstresses.
But his sister Bonita (30) already has a lot of responsibility: she manages the online trade and human resources departments and plans to modernize the company in the direction of digitization.
"That would also be my path to management," she says.
She has already expanded the online shop, hired a video content creator and photographer and set up a podcast room.
According to her own statements, she would “not turn down” the successor to her father.
Wolfgang Grupp: "If one of the children gets married abroad, it's of course out of the question"
Although both children have attended elite boarding schools and should therefore be highly educated, they have a lot of respect for the future role of CEO.
"We know that these are huge footsteps that we will probably never be able to fill," says Bonita.
"We can learn so much from our father, he has this brutal discipline, this straightforwardness," adds Wolfgang Junior.
The father is still open as to which of the children will take over his role.
"Both children can run the company," he says.
Who does it in the end depends on the choice of partner.
If Wolfgang Junior or Bonita brought in a “drunk partner”, they would be out.
"Even if one of the two children marries abroad, then of course it's out."
Trigema succession: Those who do not inherit the company inherit “Styria”
So that things are fair, the second child will not go away empty-handed, regardless of who inherits the company in the end.
Grupp's wife Elisabeth, a baroness from Austria, owns 3,000 hectares of land at home.
The loser in the duel over Trigema will one day inherit “Styria”, as the groups say.
As soon as the father resigns his position, he and his wife Elisabeth will decide who will take over the company.
In the event of his death, his wife alone decides on Trigema.
For company patriarch Wolfang Grupp, there is no question that Wolfgang Junior or Bonita will one day succeed him.
"It's natural for the children to take over!
Anything else would be crazy
!
"
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Wolfgang Grupp: "When my children stand at my grave..."
Even if Grupp may seem rigorous at first glance: When it comes to the children, he strikes a mild tone that doesn't sound like pressure to perform at all.
In a mind game, he explains: If his children were to stand at his grave and say: Dad, you didn't think we were capable of anything, you brought in executors and managing directors - and they put us all down.
“Then I would stand up and say: What a raving father I was!” But if the children at the grave would say: Dad, you thought we were capable of everything, unfortunately we put everything down.
"Then I would stand up and say: I'm proud that it was you, my children!"