They Kidnapped the Wrong Billionaire

In late 1971, a manager clocked out from work in a German parking lot, parked his car next to a Mercedes 280—the same model his boss drove—and headed home. Ten feet away, tied up on the back seat of that Mercedes, was Theo Albrecht, co-founder of Aldi and one of the richest men in Europe. He had been hog-tied in a parking lot, and nobody noticed. This was the biggest kidnapping in German history, pulled off by two men who had no clue what they were doing: a broke lawyer, a safe cracker chasing a dream beach house, and a ransom drop involving an actual bishop.

The Making of a Frugal Billionaire

Theo Albrecht and his older brother Carl grew up behind the counter of a cramped neighborhood shop in Essen, run by their mother. Their father had lung problems from years working in mines and a bakery. The boys grew up counting change during a series of German economic disasters: the hyperinflation of 1923, the Great Depression, the devastation of war, and the currency reform of 1948 that wiped out savings overnight. Most Germans were broke and hungry, stretching every coin. The Albrecht brothers learned that when customers have almost nothing, cheap wins.