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INGVAR KAMPRAD

Ikea founder steps down from key board post

Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad is leaving one of his most influential roles with the furniture giant he started as a teenager in southern Sweden as World War II raged.

Published: 5 June 2013 08:35 CEST

Ikea founder steps down from key board post

The move comes amid a number of changes to the board of Inter Ikea Group, the holding company that manages the Ikea brand, retailing concept, and franchising operations.

“I see this as a good time for me to leave the board of Inter Ikea Group. By that we are also taking another step in the generation shift that has been ongoing for some years,” the 87-year-old Kamprad said in a statement.

At the same time, Per Ludvigsson, the chairman of Inter Ikea Holding, the holding company of Inter Ikea Group, is stepping down with the Ikea founder’s youngest son, Mathias Kamprad, taking over.

The elder Kamprad said his son is “well-prepared” for the new assignment, and that, despite his decision to leave the board, he would remain engaged with the company he started in 1943.

“My passion and engagement for the many people, the Ikea concept, simplicity and cost consciousness is as strong as ever,” he said.

“I will continue to share ideas and views. And I will continue to spend time in the stores and in the factories to work with people and help achieve constant improvement. Our journey has just started.”

Ingvar Kamprad stepped down as CEO Ikea in 1986 and has lived in Switzerland since the 1970s, but has remained one of the most influential names in the Swedish business world for decades.

He still chairs the Dutch-registered Stiching Ingka Foundation, which controls Ikea Group and sits on the board of family-controlled Interogo Foundation in Liechtenstein, which in turn owns Inter Ikea Group.

His son Mathias, born in 1969, is the youngest of the founder’s three sons and also sits on the Interogo Foundation board.

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A file photo at Ikea in Aalborg, where 31 people stayed overnight during a snowstorm on December 1st 2021.

A file photo at Ikea in Aalborg, where 31 people stayed overnight during a snowstorm on December 1st 2021. Photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

Anyone who has found themselves wandering the mazy aisles of an Ikea might be able to empathise with the sense of being lost in the furniture store for a seemingly indefinite time.

Such a feeling was probably more real than usual for six customers and 25 staff members who were forced to spend the night at the furniture giant’s Aalborg branch after being snowed in.

Heavy snow in North Jutland brought traffic to a standstill and halted public transport in parts of the region on Wednesday afternoon, resulting in a snow-in at Ikea.

“This is certainly a new situation for us,” Ikea Aalborg store manager Peter Elmose told local media Nordjyske, which first reported the story.

“It’s certainly not how I thought my day would end when I drove to work this morning,” Elmose added.

The 31 people gathered in the store’s restaurant area and planned to see Christmas television and football to pass the evening, the store’s manager reported to Nordjyske.

“Our kitchen staff have made sure there is hot chocolate, risalamande, pastries, soft drinks, coffee and the odd beer for us in light of the occasion. So we’ll be able to keep warm,” he said.

“We couldn’t just send them outside and lock the door behind them at our 8pm closing time. Absolutely not. So of course they’ll be staying here,” he added.

The temporary guests were given lodging in different departments of the store in view of the Covid-19 situation, Nordjyske writes.

“For us , the most important thing was to take care of each other and that everyone feels safe,” Elmose said.

At least Ikea’s stranded customers and staff had somewhere comfortable to lay their heads.

The same can unlikely be said for around 300 passengers at the city’s airport who had to stay overnight at the terminal.

The airport was forced to stop flights from 2:30pm yesterday amid worsening weather, which also prevented buses from transferring passengers to hotels.

“We have around 300 people in the terminal right now and have been giving out blankets on the assumption they will be staying here tonight,” Aalborg Airport operations manager Kim Bermann told Nordjyske.

READ ALSO: Ikea reopens in Denmark after country’s worst retail month this century

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