Wanek makes Forbes 400 richest people list
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, October 19, 2008
ARCADIA, Wis. — Ashley Furniture Chairman Ron Wanek has made the new Forbes 400 ranking of the richest people in America with an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion.
Wanek, who leads the industry's largest furniture manufacturing operation and is behind its largest retail network, Ashley Furniture HomeStores, was No. 321 on the Forbes list, which had a cutoff this year of $1.3 billion.
He was one of more than 30 newcomers to the annual list and the only one with a significant furniture business other than Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett, No. 2 on the list with an estimated net worth of $50 billion. Berkshire owns retailers Nebraska Furniture Mart, Star Furniture, R.C. Willey and Jordan's Furniture. Buffett is among 31 people who have been on the annual list every year since it was introduced in 1982.
In its online coverage about the Forbes 400 in the Oct. 6 issue, Forbes characterized the listing as “a snapshot of estimated wealth” on Aug. 29, the day it locked in prices of publicly traded stocks.
Wanek told Furniture/Today that although he was contacted by Forbes, he did not provide any financial information and he doesn't know how they came up with the information.
“Ashley through the years, has invested in technology, invested in buildings, investing in products … in training and its employees. Who's to say what that's all worth? I don't know,” he said.
“I never really thought about the business in terms of money,” he added. “My only goal has been to be the best furniture company.”
For links to Forbes' online version, go to www.furnituretoday.com.
Separately, Ashley was honored recently by the Wisconsin Assembly for passing Wal-Mart to become the nation's largest retailer of furniture and bedding. The legislators based the honor on Ashley Furniture HomeStores' estimated $2.38 billion in furniture and bedding sales in 2007, citing Furniture/Today's Aug. 25 report on the Top 25 U.S. Furniture and Bedding Retailers.
