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Forbes magazine named the richest Swiss people of 2023. A couple are left behind: Gianluigi Aponte (82) and Rafaela Aponte-Diamant (78). The two together are worth $31.2 billion. Who is the rich couple?
Gianluigi Aponte is actually Italian, not Swiss. He was born in 1940 in Sorrento, Italy. After receiving maritime training, he worked as a captain on cruise ships.
The Neapolitan met his future love on one of these cruise ships in the 1960s: Rafaela Diamant (78). She was a passenger on a ship bound for the Italian island of Capri. Diamant grew up in Geneva as the daughter of a banker. Its roots are in Israel. Because of love, Aponte later moved to his future wife in Switzerland.
The world’s largest shipping company was born
Together, Aponte and Diamant founded MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company in 1970. They financed their first ship with a $200,000 loan. It was originally an Italian company. This later became the largest shipping company in the world. And also a Swiss company when the corporate headquarters moved to Geneva in 1975. There is not even direct access to the sea in this country.
The wealthy couple owes billions of dollars to shipping company MSC. MSC is 50% owned by Aponte and 50% owned by Aponte-Diamond. Sales in 2019 amounted to 25 billion francs.
His son also joined MSC
In addition to shipping, MSC now organizes cruises, inland logistics and port operations. Rafaela Aponte-Diamant is only mentioned as a co-founder in some sources. However, only her husband is mentioned on the MSC website. According to Forbes, MSC Cruises is responsible for the decoration of its ships.
The two children of the duo should also benefit from billions. His son Diego Aponte (48) has been Group President of MSC since 2014. His father serves as CEO even in his old age. While Diego Aponte is referred to simply as “Diego” on the website, his father’s name is “Mr Aponte” or “Captain Aponte”.
His daughter Alexa Aponte Vago (50) does not work for the company. However, his wife, Pierfrancesco Vago (62), has been the Chairman of MSC Cruises since 2016. Their daughter Zoe is the godmother of MSC Zoe. The girl is now 12 years old.
Source :Blick
I’m Tim David and I work as an author for 24 Instant News, covering the Market section. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, my mission is to provide accurate, timely and insightful news coverage that helps our readers stay informed about the latest trends in the market. My writing style is focused on making complex economic topics easy to understand for everyone.
