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Grizzly Bulls’ Billionaires Index

⬅ # 501 Annette Lerner|# 503 Rakesh Gangwal ➡

# 502 Erich Wesjohann 

$5.89B

Real Time Net Worth
as of 7/2/2024
-$13 (-0.00%)

# 502 Erich Wesjohann 

$5.89B

Real Time Net Worth
as of 7/2/2024
-$13 (-0.00%)
OccupationFounder and Chair, EW Group
Source of WealthPoultry Genetics
Age79
ResidenceVisbek, Germany
Marital StatusMarried
Children3
Age-Adjusted Net Worth$1.63B
Erich Wesjohann
Erich Wesjohann
Germany
Net worth: $5.89B

Self-Made Score 

Wealth History

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Biography

Overview

Erich Wesjohann is the chairman and namesake of Germany-based EW Group, the world's largest poultry breeding and genetics company.
EW Group was founded in 1999, when Wesjohann and his brother Paul-Heinz decided to split up their family chicken company, originally dating to 1932.
In 2020, EW Group pulled in total revenue of $3.3 billion. Two U.S. poultry breeders Aviagen and Hubbard make up key assets in EW Group's portfolio.
The low-profile billionaire and his wife have transferred a portion of ownership in EW Group to other members of their family over the years.

History

In 1999, Erich Wesjohann established the EW Group after splitting from the Lohmann-Wesjohann-Group with his brother Paul-Heinz.
Their father, Paul Wesjohann, founded an agricultural trade business in 1932, which later merged with Heinz Lohmann's fishmeal factory, forming the precursor to their joint venture.
Paul-Heinz Wesjohann went on to establish the PHW Group, becoming one of Europe's largest poultry farming companies.

Expansion and Acquisitions

Initially focusing on laying hen genetics, EW Group expanded into broiler genetics in 2005 by acquiring Aviagen, a world leader in broiler breeding.
In 2015, EW Group became a shareholder of Plukon Food Group, one of Europe's largest poultry farming companies.
Further acquisitions included Hubbard, a broiler breeder from Groupe Grimaud in 2018, and Novogen, a French laying hen breeder, along with its Dutch distributor Verbeek in 2021.
Since 2008, EW Group has acquired several fish breeding and genetics companies, including AquaGen, GenoMar, and AquaAmerica, specializing in salmon, trout, and tilapia respectively.

Animal Breeding

Laying Hens
EW Group's laying hen division comprises subsidiaries like Lohmann Breeders, Hy-Line International, H&N International, and Novogen.
In 2019, approximately 2-3 billion laying hens worldwide were from EW Group breeding programs.

Meat Poultry
Aviagen, a subgroup of EW Group, is the world's leading supplier of breeding stock for broiler and turkeys, offering breeds like Ross, Arbor Acres, and Indian River.
Hubbard, another subsidiary, operates additional breeding programs for turkeys.

Fish
Through subsidiaries like AquaGen, GenoMar, and AquaAmerica, EW Group supplies fish breeding and genetics services, specializing in salmon, trout, and tilapia.

Criticism
Animal welfare organizations have criticized the fast growth of Ross chickens, leading to compromised heart and bone structures, higher mortality, lameness, and muscle disease.
Lohmann Tierzucht, now Lohmann Breeders, faced legal convictions of animal cruelty in 2011.

How long would it take you to become as rich as Erich Wesjohann?

If you started with $10,000 and invested an additional $500 each month at a 44.06% CAGR, it would take you 5 years to reach Erich Wesjohann's net worth of $5.89B.

Is this realistic? It depends how closely the VIX-TA-Macro Advanced model performs to its history in the future. Since Grizzly Bulls launched on January 1, 2022, it's returned 48.24% compared to 16.19% for the S&P 500 benchmark.

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Erich Wesjohann is very wealthy, but what's stopping you from reaching that same level of success? As summarized in our five fundamental rules to wealth building, becoming wealthy in a modern capitalist economy is not complicated. There's actually only three variables:

  1. Your starting capital
  2. Your earnings after expenses
  3. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of your savings

Most people start with zero or very little, so if you weren't born into wealth, don't fret! The majority of the fortunate folks listed in our Grizzly Bulls’ Billionaires Index came from middle class or lower backgrounds. The most distinguishing characteristic of the group is their ability to consistently earn a high CAGR on their savings.

Every billionaire has a unique strategy to achieve high CAGR. For Erich Wesjohann, Poultry Genetics is the primary source. Whether you choose to invest your savings in your own businesses or the businesses of others is not as important. The salient piece of the puzzle is ensuring that your hard-earned savings are generating sufficient CAGR to reach your long term goals.

Most people simply invest their money in index funds and call it a day. There's nothing wrong with this approach, but it guarantees relative mediocrity. To achieve greatness, you need to invest your money to earn higher than average returns. In the long run, better investors will always finish ahead of better earners.

Source: Grizzly Bulls reporting

Methodology: Grizzly Bulls' Billionaires Index is a daily ranking of the world's billionaires and richest people. Grizzly Bulls strives to provide the most accurate net worth calculations available. We pull data from public equity markets, SEC filings, public real estate records, and other reputable sources.

The index is dynamic and updates daily at the close of U.S. stock market trading based on changes in the markets, economy, and updates to Grizzly Bulls' proprietary algorithm of personal wealth calculation. Stakes in public companies are tracked daily based on the relevant closing prices of the underlying securities. Additionally, stakes in private companies, cash, real estate, and other less easily valued assets are updated periodically through careful analysis of insider transactions, comparable public company sales / EBITDA multiples, etc.

Edited by: Lee Bailey