Through their Quandt Group, the family are part owners of hundreds of businesses and, most notably, long-time share holders of BMW. Herbert Quandt has been credited with saving BMW from bankruptcy in 1959. His wife, Johanna Quandt, was Germany’s second-richest woman at the time of her death in 2015.
Descendants of a Dutch rope-making family who settled near Berlin in the 18th century, the Quandt family were involved in textile manufacturing before eventually entering battery production and metal fabrication businesses in 1928.
After his father’s death, Herbert and his brother Harald divided the family’s then conglomerate between them. In 1959, Herbert increased his shares in the troubled BWM from 30 to 50 per cent, taking control of the company and risking much of his personal wealth. Through Herbert’s leadership, BMW prospered. It was at this time he met his personal assistant at the company who would later become his wife, Johanna Quandt. They married in 1960 and had two children, Stefan Quandt and Susanne Klatten.
After Herbert’s death in 1982, Johanna became a major shareholder in BMW and sat on its supervisory board until her retirement in 1997. The Quandt family still owns a 46.6 per cent stake of BMW today.
