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Karel Komárek

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Karel Komárek (born 15 March 1969) is a Czech billionaire[1] worth $9.5 billion as of October 2024.[2] He is one of the wealthiest Czech citizens and the founder of the investment company KKCG.[3][4] Komárek has faced criticism for his past business ties with Russia's Gazprom, which have drawn accusations of collaboration with Russian interests.[1]

Karel Komárek
Komárek in 2023
Born
(1969-03-15) 15 March 1969 (age 55)

Hodonín, Czech Republic
Occupation(s)Businessman, philanthropist
Years active1992–present
Known forFounder of KKCG
Spouse
Štěpánka Komárková
​
(m. 2015)​
Children4

Personal life

Komárek was born in Hodonín, Czech Republic on 15 March 1969. He graduated in engineering and then worked briefly at Sigma Hodonín.[5]

Komárek married Štěpánka Komárková in 2015, his second marriage.[6][7][8] He has four children, and resides in Verbier, Switzerland.[9][10][11]

Business career

In 1992, he became an entrepreneur for the first time, founding the industrial valves wholesale company M.O.S. Hodonín with a start-up capital of CZK 300,000 borrowed from his father.[12][6] In 1995 Komárek founded the internationally active investment company KKCG.[13] In 1996, his company M.O.S. Hodonín changed its name to MOS Hodonín Morovia Systems and developed into a technology supplier for the mining industry, allowing Komárek to enter the energy business.[5][14] This was followed by the energy production company Moravské naftové doly (now MND Group), which now belongs to Komárek's investment company KKCG.[5]

Komárek is chairman of the board of trustees at the Karel Komárek Family Foundation, alongside his wife Štěpánka.[15]

KKCG

 
Komárek in 2023

KKCG's business activities comprise lotteries and gambling, energy, information technology, and investments. Its member companies include Allwyn, MND, ARICOMA Group, KKCG Real Estate Group, Springtide Ventures venture capital fund, and others.[16][17][18] As of 2022, KKCG operated in 33 countries.[6]

In 2012, KKCG became the sole owner of the largest Czech lottery company Sazka, which later served as the cornerstone for the establishment of Europe's gambling conglomerate, the Sazka Group.[16][19] In 2021, Sazka Group's mother company, Sazka Entertainment, rebranded to Allwyn.[20] Allwyn's portfolio includes Camelot UK, Camelot US (operators of the Illinois State Lottery), Opap (Greece and Cyprus), Casag (Austria), Sazka (Czech Republic), and Lottoitalia (Italy).[21]

KKCG has also made investments in information technologies[22] and is active on the real estate market. It has completed various "top rezidence" residential projects in Prague. In June 2021, it finished the Bořislavka Office and Shopping Center in the Prague 6 district.[23][24][25]

In 2023, KKCG opened a methanol factory in West Virginia through the company US Methanol, which was founded by KKCG in 2016.[26][27][28]

Wealth

In 2018, Bloomberg estimated Komárek's worth at $3.3 billion.[16][29] In 2019, Forbes ranked Komárek in 715th place among the world's billionaires with estimated worth of $3 billion;[30] in 2022, Forbes ranked him in 502nd place with estimated worth of $5.3 billion.[9] Bloomberg values his net worth at US$8.18 billion as of February 2023.[31]

Cooperation with Russian companies

According to Czech media, Karel Komárek began collaborating with the Russian monopoly Gazprom in 2006 as part of an arrangement involving oil production in Russia.[32] In 2011, Komárek's company, Moravske Naftove Doly (MND), Komárek's MND signed a partnership agreement with Russia's Gazprom to jointly develop gas storage facilities in Europe and Russia.[33][34] In 2011, MND, owned by Karel Komárek, became one of the key sponsors of the Russia's KHL hockey league through a €3 million contract. This sponsorship arose as a result of Komárek's business dealings with Gazprom Export. Alexander Medvedev, the CEO of Gazprom Export, also serves as the president of the KHL and the deputy chairman of Gazprom.[35][36][37] In July 2011, KKCG bought the Oktyabrsk oil terminal in Russia's Samara region, which was sold in 2022.[38][39]

The cooperation between Komarek's MND and Russia's Gazprom officially began in 2013, when a joint venture Moravia Gas Storage a.s. (MSG) was established, in which Gazprom owned 50+% of the shares and Komarek's Czech MND held a smaller share.[40][41][42][43]  At that time, Komarek stated that his company would jointly with Gazprom build storage facilities "in Europe and the Russian Federation."[44][45] MSG has built one of the largest gas storage facilities in the Czech Republic with a gas volume of 448 million cubic meters or 12% of the country's total reserves.[46][47][48] After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Karel Komárek faced significant public and political pressure to sever business ties with Russian entities, according to The Guardian. During this time, his company, Allwyn, secured a £6.5 billion contract to operate the UK National Lottery. The bidding process drew scrutiny from the British MPs over Komárek's financial links to Russia, including loans from state-owned banks VTB and Sberbank. As of February 2024, per the Guardian, Komarek was still in business with Gazprom.[49]

Philanthropy

Komárek founded the Karel Komárek Family Foundation, which supports the Dvořák Prague International Music Festival,[50] which he co-founded in 2008,[51] and the Proměny Foundation. The Proměny Foundation focuses on the development of public space in the Czech Republic and in particular the reconstruction of parks and school gardens. The Foundation participated, among other things, in the reconstruction of the Park Střed in Most.[52]

In 2020, the Karel Komárek Family Foundation launched a project in which it donated instruments to Czech schools and purchased 11 pianos worth 200,000 euros from the Czech manufacturer Petrof to be donated.[53] At the same time he started a public collection of instruments for 45 other schools.[54][55] In 2023, the second fundraising campaign was launched to procure 21 instruments worth CZK 10.3 million, half of which will be raised by the KKFF.[56] In August 2021, it donated CZK 150 million to the reconstruction of Hodonín after the town was devastated by a tornado in June 2021.[57][58][59]

Komárek received the Gold Medal in the Arts from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for his achievements in the field of art.[13] He and his wife have also supported the construction of the "Reach center" building in the Kennedy Center in 2019.[60][61][62]

References

  1. ^ a b Davies, Rob (4 June 2024). "Owner of UK national lottery operator to sever ties with Gazprom". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  2. ^ "World's Billionaires List". Forbes. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  3. ^ "Karel Komarek". Forbes Karel Komarek Profile. 8 January 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  4. ^ Radu, Sintia (11 September 2019). "A Billionaire's advice: Embrace the arts". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  5. ^ a b c "Král hazardu a ropy. Miliardář Komárek oslavil 50 let, podívejte se na jeho říši | Aktuálně.cz". Aktuálně (in Czech). 19 March 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  6. ^ a b c "Poznejte 5 nejbohatších Čechů, kteří se koupají v penězích". cdr (in Czech). Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  7. ^ "Co letos čeká naše (nejen) dolarové miliardáře? Souboj o německé uhlí nebo návrat ke kořenům" (in Czech). Forbes. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  8. ^ Šimůnková, Petra (2 October 2022). "Ve víru katastrof. Čelí jim Štěpánka Komárková a nadace, kterou má s manželem". Forbes (in Czech). Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  9. ^ a b "Karel Komarek". Forbes Karel Komarek Profile. 8 January 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  10. ^ Davies, Rob (15 March 2022). "Karel Komárek profile: the entrepreneur who will run UK national lottery". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  11. ^ "Karel Komárek prodal dům na Floridě za půl miliardy. Má devět koupelen". Seznam Zprávy. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  12. ^ Andrea Hodoschek: Kampf um die Casinos: Showdown der Milliardäre. In: Kurier, p. 8. 1. December 2019.
  13. ^ a b Radu, Sintia (11 September 2019). "A Billionaire's advice: Embrace the arts". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  14. ^ Wer steht hinter der Sazka Group? In: Österreichischer Rundfunk. 15. December 2019.
  15. ^ "Karel Komárek Family Foundation - About the Foundation". Karel Komárek Family Foundation - Every potential deserves a chance to be developed. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  16. ^ a b c Alexander, Sophie (30 October 2018). "The Billionaire Who Took a Bet on Lotteries to Live the Dream". Bloomberg.
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  19. ^ "Czech investors divide up lottery group Sazka". Reuters. 14 March 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  20. ^ Orme-Claye, Ted (8 December 2021). "Sazka Entertainment renamed Allwyn in global rebranding". SBC News. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  21. ^ Blomefield, Anna (20 January 2022). "Just The Ticket: It's One Small Step Per Day for Entrepreneur Karel Komárek". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  22. ^ "KKCG buying 70 % of IT holding AutoCont". Prague Monitor. 20 October 2017. Archived from the original on 17 June 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  23. ^ "KKCG invests several billions into Top Rezidence projects in Prague". Prague Monitor. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
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  25. ^ "Komárkova Aricoma jde na západ. Její šéf Sameš vyhlíží kyberpunkovou budoucnost". Forbes (in Czech). 19 March 2021. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
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  37. ^ "Russia's gas-powered KHL hockey league looks at Prague | Aktuálně.cz". Aktuálně.cz - Víte, co se právě děje (in Czech). 25 January 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2024.
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  50. ^ Masek, Jaroslav (8 September 2020). "Miliardář Komárek kupuje piana Petrofu, která odmítla Čína. Dá je českým školám - Seznam Zprávy". Seznamzpravy (in Czech). Retrieved 8 May 2023.
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  52. ^ Beneš, Jan (4 January 2022). "Letos by měla začít přestavba parku Střed v Mostě, vyjde na více než 60 milionů korun". Czech Radio (in Czech). Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  53. ^ Atlas, Matt (9 September 2020). "Komarek Buys Piano's Rejected By China Over Taiwan Row". Prague Business Journal.
  54. ^ Saiver, Filip (21 September 2020). "Čína je odmítla, Komárek koupil. Teď se o klavíry Petrof uchází přes 400 škol". Forbes (in Czech). Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  55. ^ Masek, Jaroslav (24 November 2020). "Komárek rozjel sbírku Piana do škol. Průměrné stáří nástrojů je 49 let - Seznam Zprávy". Seznamzpravy (in Czech). Retrieved 8 May 2023.
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  61. ^ "Manželé Komárkovi se podíleli na vzniku Kennedyho nového centra umění ve Washingtonu". Lidovky (in Czech). 9 September 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  62. ^ Zedník, Josef. "Ve Washingtonu slavnostně otevřeli REACH, novou část Kennedy Centra pro umění". Klasikaplus (in Czech). Retrieved 12 May 2023.
 
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