Ingvar Kamprad

Kamprad stepped down as IKEA's chief executive in 1986 but spent the next thirty years designing a succession that would outlast him: a web of foundations and holding companies that keep the business from being sold or broken up, and professional managers such as Anders Dahlvig running it. His sons were given roles but not control. The structure is opaque and was built partly with tax in mind, but IKEA kept growing after his death in 2018.