Finland’s Top Billionaire Antti Herlin in Forbes' List: Making Money From Elevator Business

Forbes’ billionaire list of 2015 is out and a diverse profile of billionaires is in sight. In the list of 1826 billionaires, where Bill Gates at the top, there is Antti Herlin of Finland, with #3.6 billion in assets.

What makes Herlin stand out in the crowd is the source of his wealth, which comes from his business of elevators. It means Herlin owes his fabulous success to the elevator company Kone Corp, of which he is the current chairman. Born on 14 November 1956, Herlin is the son of Pekka Herlin, a former chairman of Kone. Herlin has also led the Confederation of Finnish Industries as its past chairman. The billionaire also has 9 percent stake in Finland's media group Sanoma.

Architect of Growth

Kone Corporation was founded by Herlin’s grandfather in 1924. Today the company has grown to become a global company, as one of the biggest makers of elevators and escalators. Kone products enjoy high demand in all world markets and continue to be hot favourites in the projects’ market.

As CEO of Kone, from 1996 to 2006, Herlin played a pivotal role in expanding the elevator company’s operations in terms of acquisitions, alliances and technological advancements. Impressed by his performance, his father Pekka changed his will in 1999 and gave Herlin full control of the firm, which later led to some legal wrangles with his siblings. But the dispute was resolved amicably in 2005. Herlin took control of Kone. But gave up his stake in the spinoff Cargotec, which is into cargo machinery solutions.

In 2014, Herlin established a non-profit foundation called “The Tiina and Antti Herlin Foundation” with an aim to support research and education for societal well-being, culture and environment. As foundation’s chairman Herlin and wife Tina Herlin, vice chairperson, released a mission statement that “We want to show our support to the Finnish society and contribute to its future in different ways.”

Longest Lift

Kone made news recently as the provider of elevators to world’s tallest, upcoming building—Saudi Arabia’s $1.2 billion Kingdom Tower. The Tower is to be completed in 2018, and will have a full kilometre in height. It is also going to enthrall all, with world's tallest lift at 660m or 2,165ft made by Kone. The director of high rise technology in Kone, Santeri Suoranta explains the significance of Kone's innovation, “Elevators travelling distances of more than 500 metre or 1,640 ft were not feasible in the past, as weight of the steel ropes themselves become so large that more ropes were needed to carry the ropes themselves but Kone has offered a new technology."

Kone products can also be seen at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport and Makkah Clock Royal Tower hotel in Saudi Arabia, among others. In the $84.4 billion world elevator industry, Kone has competitors in Otis and Schindler.

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