It's not easy turning your company into a global empire.
But deciding which of your heirs should control that empire can be a whole other challenge.
Over the years, Aldi has grown from a small grocery store in Germany to a worldwide powerhouse
with plans to have nearly 2,500 stores operating in the United States by 2022.
On top of all that, the company also owns Trader Joe's, one of America's leading grocery
store chains.
All this is built off the work of Aldi's founders, Karl and Theo Albrecht.
But both men have now passed away, and their vast fortune is causing some major family
drama among their heirs.
"Juicy."
Now, Aldi's whole setup is a little complicated.
One of the founders, Theo, died in 2010 and was reportedly worth $18.8 billion at the
time.
When his brother Karl died in 2014, he was reported to be worth $26 billion.
Theo ran Aldi Nord, which encompassed part of West Germany and southern Europe, while
Karl ran Aldi Süd, covering southwest Germany, the U.S., eastern Europe, and Australia.
In other words, there is one company, but two fortunes.
Karl Albrecht left his part of the company and fortune to his son Karl Jr. and daughter
Beate.
They're both about as frugal as billionaires can be, and while Karl Jr. doesn't have any
kids, his sister has six children.
The combined net worth between the two today is around $36 billion.
Not much is known about Karl Jr.
The son of Karl Albrecht lives an incredibly private life and doesn't grant interviews
to the press.
While it's unclear which of his six nephews and nieces will inherit his share of the Aldi
fortune, it's understandable why he remains so private.
Karl Jr.'s uncle Theo was actually kidnapped in the 1970s and held for 17 days until a
$3 million ransom was paid.
From that point on, both the Albrecht brothers and their offspring maintained very private
lives, and even traveled to work in an armored car.
Then you've got Theo's family.
Whereas the Albrecht brothers and their children always lived relatively frugally, not everyone
in the family seems to share those values.
Indeed, most of the Albrecht family drama appears to revolve around the widow of Theo
Albrecht's son, Berthold.
Following Berthold's death in 2012, his wife Babette went on a serious shopping spree,
buying everything from vintage cars to extravagant clothes and pricey pieces of art.
Of course, this kind of goes against the whole Albrecht family philosophy.
Whereas the older members of the Albrecht family are rarely seen in public, Babette
seems to adore the spotlight, and frequently attends glitzy parties and publicity events.
When Berthold passed away, he made it known in his will that neither his wife Babette
nor their children were to be given control of Aldi Nord.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Babette took offense to this and hired a legal team to argue that
her late husband was an alcoholic, and therefore unable to competently make such a decision
in his will.
The matter was eventually settled after Babette and her children agreed to take a yearly payment
of $36 million from the family trust.
But that wasn't the end of it.
Theo's late wife and Berthold's mother, Cäcilie Albrecht, passed away in 2018.
Cacilie had always made it known that she wasn't exactly a fan of Babette, and insisted
in her will that she be cut out of the company for good.
Cacilie and her other son Theo Jr. had long harbored concerns that Babette and her five
children were spending the family's fortune rather than managing it for the sake of the
company.
"Yep.
That's exactly what happened."
So just how much money have Babette and her kids spent on fancy material items?
Well, in 2019, Theo Jr. broke his silence and called Babette out as a "burden" on Aldi.
He also accused her of spending over $157 million of the family's money to fund her
lavish lifestyle.
Today, the battle lines remain drawn.
One side of the family believes in quiet frugality, while the other likes to live the good life.
But both are vying for control of the company's fortunes, and just how it all shakes out is
yet to be seen.
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