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Comment by kalleboo | Hacker News Reader

Some of the "frugality" stuff is just image - he also had a Porsche, lived in a very nice property in Switzerland for 40 years, and also owned a French vineyard (although he forced IKEA to sell the wine from the latter so he may have actually made money off of that one...)

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Ingvar Kamprad got mega rich, as accountants do for the rich they have much of it offshore and hidden because they get a piece, but he is probably in the top 10 most wealthy, 50 billion or so [1].

What didn't change is the company focus, very middle class like Costco.

What didn't change is how the company was started, from frugality and internal innovation.

What didn't change is treating employees well as part of your business that directly affects consumers.

So yeah, he got mega wealthy and deserved it and earned those toys. But the company and mission never changed meanwhile many companies in that space folded or moved to focus on upper middle class or wealthy only. IKEA still has a Costo/Sears type of target market that is largely not pursued today. IKEA workers also love it like they do at Costco, WinCo and you can compare that to how Walmart treats retail workers (they treat devs well) in pay and how people feel in the organization. I prefer to spend money at places that treat employees well and pay well.

[1] http://www.businessinsider.com/how-ikea-founder-ingvar-kampr...

Give people cheap stuff, pretend to be one of them and they won't question anything you do. Seem like he invented the modern tech company decades early.

As far as sports cars go, you can get a reliable Porsche that will last you a very long time. Not necessarily wasteful if you want good performance out of a car.

Completely off topic, but ehat model/years are you talking about?

I’ve never heard anyone say that about a porsche.

Genuinely curious, not being facetious.

Not OP, but some info here: https://jalopnik.com/how-to-own-a-ridiculously-cheap-and-rel...

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