Michele Ferrero, the man renowned for giving the world Nutella, Tic Tacs, Kinder Eggs, and the ever-famous Ferrero Rocher chocolates, has passed away on Saturday, February 14th. He had been suffering from a long-term illness and ultimately lost the battle at age 89 in his home in Monaco.
According to Forbes’ list of richest people, Mr. Ferrero’s family-owned companies have a net worth of $26.5 million dollars, and had closely held Italian chocolate maker, Ferrero SpA, gain a value of $30 billion — a candy empire that has been “courted” by other large competitors in the business, but have unsuccessfully tried to get their hands on it.
Ferrero’s father, Pietro Ferrero, initially invented the Nutella spread during World War II, when he experimented with ingredients to create a chocolate substitute since cocoa was scarce. He created what was then called “Pasta Gianduja”, and it wasn’t until 1963 that Michele Ferrero started rebranding the product and marketing it throughout Europe.
Ever since officially creating the first batch of Nutella in 1964, it is clear that Michele Ferrero has perfected the hazelnut spread. His grandson, Giovanni, told BBC last year: “My grandfather lived to find this formula. He was completely obsessed by it… he woke up my grandmother at midnight – she was sleeping – and he made her taste it with spoons, asking, ‘How was it?’ and ‘What do you think?’”
Despite his aspirations to go international once he developed the Nutella spread, Michele Ferrero will always be remembered as a family man, notably for being extremely private and distant from the “business world”. It was very important for him to keep Ferrero SpA in the hands of his family and never accept any other deals from companies who wanted to cash in on his empire.
Many have been saddened all around the globe for Michele Ferrero’s passing, with so much uproar on social media and among public declarations from celebrities. To the world, Michele Ferrero was viewed as a grandfather-figure, loyal to his family and giving us all a bit of love with his chocolaty inventions and his ambition to make the world a little sweeter.
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