Jan Kulczyk Net Worth, Biography and Career

Jan Kulczyk Net Worth $4 Billion

Jan Kulczyk, one time the richest Polish citizen, was the founder of Kulczyk Holding and was also listed as one of the richest men in the world with a net worth of more than 4 billion dollars at the peak of his career.

His business interests covered an array of industries, with a 3 percent investment in brewing company SABMiller his most valuable asset. Jan’s Kulczyk Holding is headquartered in Warsaw, Poland.

He owned an international investment house known as Kulczyk Investments headquartered in Luxembourg with offices in London, the United Kingdom, and Kyiv, Ukraine. According to Forbes magazine, Mr. Kulczyk was the wealthiest Pole at the time of his death in July 2015. More details follow below.

Early Life: Childhood, Education

He was born Jan Jerzy Kulczyk on 24 June 1950 in Bydgoszcz, Poland. He studied at VI Jan i Jędrzej Śniadeccy Secondary School in Bydgoszcz. After graduating in 1968, he enrolled in the Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznan to study law.

He then studied foreign trade at the Poznań University of Economics and Business, before bagging a doctorate degree in political sciences and international law.

Professional Life: Business career

In 1981, Mr. Kulczyk founded his first business with some money that his father Henryk gave him. The Interkulpol joint-venture was one of the first multinational trade companies established in Poland after World War II.

In 1988, Kulczyk became Poland’s major Volkswagen dealer. His first large-scale contract was a 35.7 million euros sale of 3,000 Volkswagen vehicles delivered to the Polish security services in the early 1990s.

In 1991, the limited liability company, Kulczyk Holding, was founded. Two years later, the company changed into a joint-stock company and Mr. Jan Kulczyk held the position of chairman of the supervisory board of the company.

Kulczyk held a significant investment in Poland’s biggest telecom company TPSA, now operating as Orange Polska. He bought shares in the company in 2000 during its privatization. Furthermore, he was also a shareholder in PKN Orlen, the biggest oil refiner in Poland.

His current assets include energy companies Polenergia and Serinus Energy, chemicals group Ciech, and a number of international oil and gas companies. He also held stakes in a number of big ventures, including Polenergia and Ophir Energy.
Mr. Kulczyl, according to former president Lech Walesa, had played a significant role in the country’s development.

Personal Life: Wife, Children, Death

Mr. Kulczyk was divorced with two children from his matrimonial union with Grażyna Kulczyk. His children’s names are Dominika (born in 1977) and Sebastian (born in 1980).

When his marriage ended, Joanna Przetakiewicz became his long-time partner.

In the years leading up to his death, the late businessman commissioned the Lonsdaleite Estate, a personal residence in St Moritz, Switzerland. The estate was completed after his death and was sold off for more than CHF 180 million, making it Switzerland’s most expensive house.

Jan Kulczyk died in Allgemeines Krankenhaus der Stadt Wien in Vienna on 29 July 2015 due to postoperative complications. He was buried in the family vault at the Jeżycki cemetery, next to his father, Henryk Kulczyk who died two years earlier.

His son, Sebastian, has been in charge of the family’s business since 2013 when he assumed the role of chief executive at Kulczyk Investments, a holding establishment that controls Kulczyk’s major assets.

During his time alive, Jan Kulczyk divided his time between Warsaw in Poland, London in England, and Luxembourg in the Netherlands. He spent a great deal of his time traveling, and also engaging in his hobbies.

Jan Kulczyk Net Worth: Salary, Assets, Income Sources

Prior to his demise in July 2015 when he was 65 years old, Jan Kulczyk had a net worth of over 4 billion dollars. The late Polish billionaire businessman was famous for being the richest person in Poland during his time alive.

After bagging his law degree from Adam Mickiewicz University, in Poznan, Jan moved on to earn a degree in Foreign Trade at the University of Economics in Poznan before earning his Ph.D. in International Law. He started his career by establishing his first business, Interkulpol, during the early 80s.

He then launched Kulczyk Tradex in the late 80s, after which he started the Kulczyk Holding company in the early 90s. Most of his adult life was spent serving as the Chairman of Kulczyk Holding. His Kulczyk Tradex, to date, is the only authorized Audi and Volkswagon dealership in Poland.

Kulczyk Holding is under the umbrella of Kulczyk Investments, which currently has controlling interests in multiple beer companies, including SABMiller, Peroni, and Grolsch, in addition to owning part of oil and gas company, Ophir Energy.

Jan Kulczyk’s net worth was also boosted by the power plant, Elektrocieplownia Nowa Sarzyna, which he owned. Not to forget, he also owned oil ventures in Brunei, Syria, and Ukraine, among other investments.