Deichmann is the chairman and chief executive officer of Deichmann Group, the largest shoe retailer in Europe. The Essen, Germany-based company has about 4,600 stores across Europe and the US. It sold more than 178 million pairs of shoes and reported turnover of 8.1 billion euros ($8.5 billion) in 2022.
Deichmann's fortune is derived from his control of the Deichmann Group, the largest shoe retailer in Europe. The Essen, Germany-based company had about 4,600 stores and sold 178 million pairs of shoes in 2022, according to its website. It reported turnover of 8.1 billion euros ($8.6 billion) in the same year, according to the site.
The billionaire inherited control of the business when his father, Heinz-Horst Deichmann, died in 2014, and he's credited with full ownership of the company in this analysis to reflect his status as chairman.
The company is valued using calculated net revenue -- sales after the deduction of returns -- and the average enterprise value-to-sales multiples of two publicly traded peer companies: Peers and Skechers.
No cash or investable assets are included in the calculation because of a lack of information on dividends paid by the closely held business.
Christian Hinkel, a spokesperson for Deichmann Group, didn't respond to a request for comment on the net wealth calculation.
Deichmann was born in Essen, Germany, in 1962, to Heinz-Horst and Ruth Deichmann, the only son in a family of four siblings. Heinrich's grandfather started a shoe-selling business in Essen in 1913 with his grandmother. She took over the business after her husband was killed by the Nazis in 1940, and was succeeded by her only son 16 years later.
Heinrich's father built the company into the largest seller of shoes in Europe over the next 43 years. He entered the U.S. market with retail stores, Rack Room Shoes, in 1984, and Off Broadway, in 2002. Heinrich took over the CEO position in 1999. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Cologne in 1988, and started as a managing partner at Deichmann the following year.
His father died on Oct. 2, 2014, leaving the business to Heinrich, who's married with two children.