Giovanni Agnelli 13 August Biography

Giovanni Agnelli (13 August 1866 - 16 December 1945) was an Italian businessman who founded the production of Fiat cars in 1899.

Giovanni Agnelli Biography

Son of Edoardo Agnelli and Aniceta Frisetti was born in 1866 in Villar Perosa, a small town near Pinerolo, in Piedmont. His father, the mayor of Villar Perosa, died at the age of 40, while Giovanni was only five years old. He studied at the Collegio San Giuseppe in Turin; He then embarked on a military career until 1893, when he returned to Villar Perosa, where he followed in his father's footsteps and became mayor in 1895 until his death. Agnelli heard of the invention of the new car without horses and immediately saw the opportunity to use his skills in engineering and entrepreneurship. In 1898 he met Count Emanuele Cacherano de Bricherasio, who was looking for investors for his car project without horses; Agnelli felt the chance.

Giovanni Agnelli net worth

On July 11, 1899, the group Agnelli composed of the founding members of the Italiana Automobili Torino di Fabbrica, which became Fiat; He paid $ 400 for his participation in 1899, worth $ 11,500 in current prices. [Citation needed] A year later he was the CEO of the new company and became president in 1920. The first Fiat factory opened in 1900 with 35 employees 24 cars. Known from the beginning for the talent and creativity of his technical staff; in 1903, Fiat obtained a small profit and produced 135 automobiles; In 1906, the number of cars increased to 1,149. The company then sold shares on the Milan Stock Exchange. Agnelli began buying all the shares he could add to his business to overcome scandals and manpower problems.

During the First World War (1914-1918), Agnelli entered this financial Riccardo Gualino in the transport of American aid to Europe in 1917. Invention two companies in the United States; the Navy and Commercial Corporation of America has exported coal and International Shipbuilding Company has manufactured motorized vessels. These companies failed at the end of the war because they were structured to meet wartime demands, but they had yielded great profits for their owners. Agnelli and Gualino tried in early 1918 to resume the Italian credit. They did not succeed, but they joined the administration of the bank. Agnelli was vice-president of the Gualino SNIA from 1917 to 1926. In the early 1920s, the SNIA began producing artificial textile fibers. In 1920, and participated Gualino Agnelli in the recapitalization of private bank Jean de Fernex and bought a third of the shares of Alfredo Frassati, editor of La Stampa. Gualino and Agnelli also took part in a proposal to link Milan, Genoa, and Turin with the high-speed train and several projects in the cement and the automobile. His association broke out around 1926 thanks to Giovanni's investments in the French automobile industry.

After the First World War, Fiat moved from 30th to third place among Italian industrial companies. Ford's first factory opened four years after Fiat's founding and already in 1906, the first Fiat car dealership was established in Manhattan on Broadway. Agnelli was appointed the senator in 1923 and held several positions of greater prestige between the two wars. He remained focused and drove Fiat on the international scene. He was still active with FIAT at the beginning of the Second World War and died shortly after he finished in 1945, at the age of 79.