According to media reports the Austrian billionaire and Billa founder Karl Wlaschek has died at the age of 97 years in Graz on Sunday.
In the 1950s, Wlaschek successfully managed and expanded his chain "Billa" to an established company. In 1996 he sold his stores to the German Rewe Group.
A spokesman of his real estate company confirmed to the APA that Wlaschek "peacefully passed away". The report states that Wlaschek will be buried in his mausoleum at the Palais Kinsky at Freyung in Vienna.
In 2014 the US magazine "Forbes" claimed that Wlaschek was the third-richest Austrian. With nearly four billion Euro, he was listed just behind Dietrich Mateschitz (Red Bull) and Johannn Graf (Novomatic).