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IKEA's billionaire creator turns 90 today - here's how he built the world's largest furniture store

Mar 30, 2016, 23:40 IST

Twitter/Ingvar Kamprad

Ingvar Kamprad, the Swedish business magnate who founded IKEA, turns 90 today. Employees celebrated with cake at the company's headquarters in Sweden, according to one of IKEA's designers.

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Kamprad started IKEA more than 70 years ago, and today the beloved brand is the world's largest furniture maker. Though he no longer actively manages the company - one of his sons serves as chairman - he remains a senior adviser.

With an estimated net worth of $39.3 billion, Kamprad ranks as the 10th-richest person on earth and the second-richest in Europe. Still, Kamprad is considered one of the world's most frugal billionaires.

The 90-year-old grew his flatpacking-furniture brand by maintaining a personal and professional ethos of innovation and simplicity.

From humble beginnings selling holiday tchotchkes to his neighbors as a child, Kamprad started a revolutionary, privately held furniture giant with $33 billion in sales - and became one of the richest people on the planet in the process.

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