Philip Zepter
| Philip Zepter | |
|---|---|
| Born |
23 November 1950 Veliko Gradište, SFR Yugoslavia (now Serbia) |
| Residence | Monte Carlo |
| Alma mater | University of Belgrade |
| Occupation | Founder of Zepter International |
| Net worth |
 $5 billion[1] |
| Spouse(s) | Madlena Zepter |
| Children | 1 daughter |
Milan Janković (Serbian Cyrillic: Милан Јанковић, born 23 November 1950 in Veliko Gradište, SFR Yugoslavia now Serbia), most known as Philip Zepter (Serbian: Филип Цептер / Filip Zepter) is an international businessman and entrepreneur of Serbian origin. He is also one of the richest Serbs in the world with an estimated net worth of $5 billion.[2] He completed primary school in Kozarska Dubica before graduating from University of Belgrade Faculty of Economics. At the age of 29, he went to Salzburg following his wife Madlena Zepter (then Madlena Janković) who got a temporary job there and in order to study German, and liked it so much there that he decided to stay.
After he moved to Linz, in 1986 he founded Zepter Handels-GmbH,[3] a multi-level marketing firm for pots and pans, which has over time grown into the conglomerate Zepter International which provides “a wide range of products and services, including banking, insurance, telecommunications, and retail sales of consumer products.”[4]
In 2004 Zepter sued the International Crisis Group, a think tank cofounded by financier George Soros, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, lawyer David Boies, money manager Paul Tudor Jones, former Chase Manhattan Bank chief executive David Rockefeller, Goldman Sachs, and J.P. Morgan Chase, for defamation following a 2003 report which described him as "an arms dealer, money launderer and crony of brutal Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic."[5]
According to Serbian press, in 2008 he was interested in buying Serbia's famous football club Red Star Belgrade. However, he postponed the purchase because he was no longer interested. In 2011 Philip Zepter joined the ranks of only five non-U.S. citizens who have been awarded the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
Zepter lives in the Villa Trianon in Cap Martin.[6]
References
- ↑ Polish magazine Wprost
- ↑ Polish magazine Wprost
- ↑ http://www.cnbcmagazine.com/story/the-new-billionaires-club/82
- ↑ http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-dc-circuit/1505826.html
- ↑ http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2004/0419/048.html Balkan Battle
- ↑ Hello! Magazine, No. 1074, 2 June 2009, pg. 6-16
External links
- Zepter official site
- Affäre: Der König der Töpfe, 8 May 2004
- International Crisis Group, Balkans Report 145, 17 juli 2003
- Seth Lubove: Balkan Battle, Forbes Global; 4/19/2004, Vol. 7 Issue 7, p. 29
| Civic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Dragan Kićanović |
President of the Olympic Committee of Serbia and Montenegro 2005 |
Succeeded by Ivan Ćurković |