Items14The creator’s order
  1. 1J. C. JacobsenJ. C. JacobsenBorn 2 Sept 1811The brewer behind Carlsberg created the Carlsberg Foundation in 1876 to fund science, and on his death in 1887 the brewery passed to it. Today the foundation holds a majority of the voting rights in Carlsberg A/S, with a smaller share of the capital, and uses its dividends to fund Danish research…0i
  2. 2Ernst AbbeErnst AbbeBorn 23 Jan 1840After Carl Zeiss's death, his partner Abbe set up the Carl Zeiss Foundation in 1889 and transferred his own shares to it in 1891, so that the optical works and the Schott glassworks belonged to no individual. The foundation statute he wrote guaranteed workers pensions, sick pay and later an…0i
  3. 3Milton S. HersheyMilton S. HersheyBorn 13 Sept 1857Childless, Hershey and his wife Catherine founded a school for orphan boys in 1909, and in 1918 he transferred most of his fortune, including his controlling stake in the chocolate company, to the Hershey Trust to fund it. The trust still holds a majority of the company's votes for the Milton…0i
  4. 4Robert BoschRobert BoschBosch's will of 1938 asked that his company be kept independent and its profits used for charitable purposes. In 1964 the Robert Bosch Stiftung acquired the shares. The structure separates money from power: the foundation receives about nine-tenths of the dividends but has no votes, while a…0i
  5. 5Will Keith KelloggWill Keith KelloggBorn 7 Apr 1860Kellogg founded the W. K. Kellogg Foundation in 1930 and over the following years gave it most of his Kellogg Company shares, which made it for decades the company's largest shareholder. A separate trust now holds the stock for the foundation, which focuses on children and families, especially in…0i
  6. 6Henry WellcomeHenry WellcomeBorn 21 Aug 1853Wellcome, co-founder of the drug company Burroughs Wellcome, left the entire share capital to trustees in his will on his death in 1936, with the profits to fund medical research. The Wellcome Trust sold its stake in the company in stages from 1986, and the business became part of Glaxo. That sale…0i
  7. 7Dorabji TataDorabji TataBorn 27 Aug 1859Jamsetji Tata's elder son placed his shares in Tata Sons, along with his wife's jewels, in the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust shortly before his death in 1932, following his brother Ratan's trust. Together the Tata trusts own about two-thirds of Tata Sons, the group's holding company, and fund hospitals,…0i
  8. 8Hans WilsdorfHans WilsdorfBorn 22 Mar 1881Wilsdorf had no children, and after his wife's death in 1944 he created the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation in Geneva and left it his shares in Rolex. The foundation still owns the company outright, keeping it private and immune to takeover, and gives large sums to Geneva charities, education and social…0i
  9. 9Robert Wood Johnson IIRobert Wood Johnson IIBorn 4 Apr 1893The son of a Johnson & Johnson co-founder, Robert Wood Johnson II ran the company for decades and left nearly all of his J&J shares to the foundation that bears his name when he died in 1968. Since 1972 the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has been one of America's biggest health charities. It…0i
  10. 10Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und HalbachAlfried Krupp von Bohlen und HalbachBorn 13 Aug 1907Alfried Krupp was convicted at Nuremberg for the use of slave labour and released early. Before his death in 1967 he arranged for the family firm to become a company owned by the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation, with his son renouncing his inheritance. The foundation remains the…0i