The Richest Candyman, Michele Ferrero dies

Some people are born with silver spoon, but Italian Billionaire Chocolate Tycoon, Michele Ferrero 89 was a “born entrepreneur” according to Italian President Sergio Mattarella. Michele Ferrero, whose global chocolate empire includes Chocolate- hazelnut Nutella, Ferrero Rocher, Kinder surprise eggs and Tic Tac mints, made him Italy’s richest man, has died on Valentine’s day at his Monaco home after months of illness. World Nutella Day 2015, one jar of Nutella is sold every 2.5 seconds worldwide. And yes, World Nutella Day is real: It’s celebrated on Feb. 5.

Ferrero SpA, Europe’s second largest confectionery company, which he developed from the small bakery and café of his father Pietro a pastry maker in Alba, Piedmont. Pietro, developed the forerunner to Nutella in 1946, called Giandujot, combining a small amount of cocoa and lots of hazelnuts to make an affordable luxury at a time chocolate was expensive. Michele was born at Dogliani, south of Turin, in an area known as the Langhe. It is famous for its wines, truffles – and hazelnuts, which in the previous century had given rise to a local speciality, gianduia. The Italian post office marked the anniversary with a commemorative Nutella stamp.

Michele Ferrero’s son, Giovanni, told the BBC recently: ‘My grandfather invented this formula. He was completely obsessed by it… he woke up my grandmother at midnight – she was sleeping – and he made her taste it with spoons, asking, ‘How was it?’ and ‘What do you think?”

Michele Ferrero turned the paste into the Nutella now known the world over, produced in 11 factories and sold in 160 countries. The first pot was made in 1964.

Giovanni Ferrero became chief executive of the firm after his older brother Pietro died of a suspected heart attack while cycling in South Africa in 2011. Secrecy was a personal Ferrero hallmark as he never gave any newspaper interview, refused to accept any honorary degrees and, according to some reports he scrutinised prospective employees from behind a two-way mirror. However, he arranged for his employees to be collected from the villages around the company’s headquarters in the town of Alba by buses that returned them to their homes at the end of their shifts and gave them free medical care and other welfare services, including company outings at which they sang a song in local dialect including a line of thanks to “monsu Michele” – Mr Michele. To this day Ferrero’s workers have never gone on strike.

The Ferrero group employs more than 22,000 workers and Over more than half a century, he turned his family firm into a giant multinational, with a turnover in 2014 of €8.4bn (£6.2bn), and made himself Italy’s richest individual, with a personal fortune that Bloomberg last year put at $26.7bn (£17.4bn).sales per year of more than €8bn (£5.9bn). Over more than half a century, he turned his family firm into a giant multinational, with a turnover in 2014 of €8.4bn (£6.2bn).

Bloomberg last year described Mr Ferrero’s fortune at as ‘the richest candyman on the planet’, putting him and his family in 30th place on their list of the world’s wealthiest people, with wealth of $26.7bn (£17.4bn)