2024-05-03 12:50:16
After its clear positioning against the AfD, Würth recorded losses in sales. However, that wasn’t what the entrepreneur was interested in anyway.
About two months ago, the entrepreneurial legend Reinhold Würth wrote a letter to the employees of his company Würth in which he warned against voting for the AfD. The 89-year-old received largely approval for his clear positioning against the AfD, but as he now reports in an interview with the “Handelsblatt”, the call against the AfD also had negative consequences.
His company lost some customers. He told the “Handelsblatt”: “We lost around 1.5 million euros in sales as a result.” However, Würth also assumes that his company received even more orders “out of sympathy”. But the economic implications of his political statement “wouldn’t be an issue anyway,” he tells the Handelsblatt.
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A clear sign of democracy
Instead, Würth wanted to send a clear signal for democracy. He is “very worried” about the future of Germany. “Many voters on the right-wing scene apparently don’t even notice that their actions tend to bring back totalitarian conditions like in the GDR – this time not from the left, but from the right,” said the entrepreneur. There are also signs within the AfD that “the values of the Basic Law are being undermined.”
With his letter, Würth wanted to “contribute a small part to ensuring that our children and grandchildren can continue to live in freedom and liberality on the basis of our wonderful Basic Law.” Würth also announces that he will continue to share his political views in the future.
He was particularly concerned about the issue of remigration, also because, according to Würth, the success of his company and Germany would never have been possible without immigration. Although criticism of immigration is “justified to a certain extent”, the “human rights of those who are politically persecuted” must also be respected. Furthermore, according to Würth, stories about an avoidable population exchange are “nonsense”.
Würth is one of the richest Germans
Würth began an apprenticeship in his father’s then small business at the age of 14 before taking over after his father’s death in 1954 at the age of 19. Today he is chairman of the foundation’s supervisory board. The billionaire is one of the richest Germans.
According to its own information, more than 87,000 people currently work for the trading group bearing its name. According to preliminary figures, in the 2023 financial year the operating result before taxes was 1.4 billion euros, below the previous year’s figure of 1.6 billion euros. However, this is still the second best operating result in the company’s history.