Eight Billionaires Emerge From German Medical Device Firm

Based on reporting by Forbes Contributor Arooba Khan
When Ludwig Georg Braun took over his family’s medical device outfit, B. Braun Melsungen AG, in 1977, its sales were only $ 24 million. Today the company has more than $5 billion in sales and employs 50,000 people. It has also turned 8 of Braun’s relatives, including his five children and three of his cousin’s children, into billionaires.
The storied family business got its start in 1839 when Julius Wilhelm Braun, Ludwig’s great-great-grandfather, purchased a small pharmacy in Melsungen, Germany, and later expanded into a mail-order business selling local herbs.  Julius’ son Bernhard, who took over in 1864, began manufacturing pharmaceutical products like migraine sticks and plasters.  In the 175 years since its founding, the company has pioneered sutures, infusion solutions and surgical instruments. It is now one of the world’s biggest makers of medical devices, helping treat everything from diabetes to incontinence to wounds through four divisions that supply to hospitals and make surgical instruments, among other products.

Longtime head of B. Braun Ludwig Georg Braun, whose five children are now billionaires.

Although Ludwig, now 71, stepped down as chairman in 2011, two of his children still work at Braun. His son Otto Philipp sits on the management board and is responsible for the company’s Iberian Peninsula and Latin American regions, while his daughter Anna Maria serves as president of B. Braun Asia Pacific and sits on the supervisory board.  According to Orbis by Bureau van Dijk, Otto has an indirect stake of nearly 23% in Braun, worth an estimated $3.4 billion, based on Forbes’ valuation of the company, while Anna Maria and his other siblings each own approximately 10% stakes.

Also billionaires are the children of Barbara Luedicke, cousin of Ludwig Georg Braun who sits on the firm’s supervistory board. Her children, none of whom are involved in the business, equally share a 35% stake in the company held through the holding company, Trankelucke GMBH & Co, says Orbis.

Braun family members are not the only billionaires to get wealthy from medical devices. Others who owe their 10-figure fortunes to the sector include the three heirs to the Stryker Corporation; Reinhold Schmieding, whose Arthrex makes tools for arthroscopic surgery, and Carl Cook, whose Cook group is known for its stents and catheters.

Below are the names and net worths of all 8 Braun billionaires:

Children of Ludwig Georg Braun
1)Otto Philipp Braun
Stake: 23%
Net  Worth: $3. 5 billion
2) Karl Friedrich Braun
Stake: 10%
Net worth: $1.5 billion
3)Anna Maria Braun 
 Stake: 10%
Net worth: $ 1.5 billion
4) Johanna Braun
Stake: 10%
Net worth: $ 1.5 billion
5) Ludwig Theodore Braun
Stake: 9.7%
Net worth: $ 1.44 billion
 Children of Barbara Luedicke
6) Bernhard Sebastian Braun-Luedicke
Stake: 11.7%
Net worth: $ 1.7 billion
7) Eva Maria Braun-Luedicke
Stake: 11.7%
Net worth: $ 1.7 billion
8) Friederike Braun-Luedicke
 Stake: 11.7%
Net worth: $ 1.7 billion