Anyone mildly aware as to the wealthiest families in South Africa will no doubt know of the Ruperts and their vast fortune. Many of you may have been to the Franschhoek Motor Museum, which is owned by the Ruperts, and you will be astonished by the cars on offer, including the Ferrari Enzo (Write up on the FMM to come…SLXS were there). Well now Johann Rupert might just have gone over the top, with this news in from my favourite luxury lifestyle website, Luxist:

Frequent among the Forbes Magazine list of world’s richest people, South African native Johann Rupert has been appointed the new CEO of the Richemont Group, who is owns a bevy of world-class watch and jewelry labels. Among these are Cartier, Panerai, Jaeger-LeCoultre, and A. Lange & Sohne. It is unclear to me why Richemont Group’s previous CEO left (sources say he retired), but with Rupert’s history in the luxury realm, as well as charismatic personality, he seems like a good fit. Plus, he is wealthy enough to afford his company’s own products.

One thing that Rupert made clear, is important for the company’s future. Unlike the recent increase of detailed oversight of the brands under the Richemont umbrella, Rupert has indicated that he desires autonomy for the group brands. This is one of the major reasons we saw a rash of CEO resignations from Richemont brands (such as A. Lange & Sohne and Baume & Mercier). Hopefully Rupert is aware of the fact that micromanaging didn’t do anyone any good, ever.

Rupert is not exactly a self-made man, but has done well with the incredible wealth that he inherited. His business record is quite impressive. It is well known in the watch industry that times are tough for luxury items. Richemont Group and main competitor Swatch Group have been hit hard, so it will be interesting to see their plans for recovery over the next few years.

So clearly Johann Rupert isn’t worrying about any sort of recession!

UPDATE: Thanks Trav for this bit of extra information, as seen in the comments below:

Mr Norbert Platt, the groups outgoing CEO is retiring due to health reasons. Mr Rupert commented as follows:
“Since he took up the role of Chief Executive Officer in 2004, Norbert has achieved remarkable results in terms of building the Group, rationalising its operations and improving our logistics infrastructure. Over the period we have seen a dramatic growth in sales and profitability at Richemont, even if the crisis of the past year has impacted the luxury goods industry so negatively.

Richemont’s philosophy is that our Maisons should operate largely autonomously, whilst benefiting from the Group’s central and regional support services. In these challenging times, we want to ensure consistency in our management approach. Richemont has strong management in the Maisons, in the regions and in our central functions and I look forward to working more closely with my colleagues.”

The Board of Compagnie Financière Richemont SA has also nominated Lord Renwick of Clifton to assume the role of Lead Independent Director, given the combination of Mr Rupert’s role as Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.”

With regards to the watches that’s how he roles. He is the biggest supporter of this country and its sports. Also an amazing guy who is very giving.

Via Luxist