Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson

Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson (born 27 January 1968 in Reykjavík) is an Icelandic businessman and former CEO of Baugur Group.

Jón Ásgeir's parents were Jóhannes Jónsson (1940-2013) and Ása Karen Ásgeirsdóttir (1942-), who both worked at the Sláturfélag Suðurlands in Reykjavík. Jón Ásgeir was later to marry Ingibjörg Stefanía (1961-), the daughter of Pálmi Jónsson. They have three children together: Ása Karen, Anton Felix and Stefán Franz (along with three of Ingibjörg's: Sigurður Pálmi, Júlíana Sól and Melkorka Katrína). Jón Ásgeir given the following thumbnail portrait by Ármann Þorvaldsson:

Jón Ásgeir's father, Jóhannes Jónsson, managed a shop, and Jón Ásgeir worked there as a child; starting at the age of thirteen, he rented out supermarket amusement rides; 'during his school years, he always had his own business going on the side, selling popcorn through special stands he set up in shopping malls'. Jón Ásgeir attended the Commercial College of Iceland but in 1989 left before graduating in order to join his recently unemployed father in founding Iceland's first low-price supermarket, Bónus, the first shop being a four-hundred square-metre establishment in Skútuvogur. Within a few years, BÓNUS was the second largest retailer in Iceland.

In August 1992, Bónus's main competitor, Hagkaup, bought a 50% share in Bónus; Hagkaup was owned by the children of its founder, Pálmi Jónsson, one of whom, Ingibjörg Stefanía Pálmadóttir, Jón would later marry. Baugur Group was created to co-ordinate purchases by the two chains in 1993; following at times acrimonious negotiations between Jón Ásgeir and Pálmi's children, Baugur succeeded in acquiring Hagkaup in 1998, with Jón Ásgeir as CEO, making him 'one of the most powerful businessmen in Iceland'. Following expansion of Bónus into the Faroe Islands in 1994, Baugur acquired a number of Icelandic retailers and expanded abroad: Nýkaup, Aðföng, Útilíf by 1998; and in 2001 Bill’s Dollar Stores and Bonus Dollar Stores in the USA along with Topshop and a significant share in Arcadia Group in the UK. Baugur went on to buy and trade significant shares in the Big Food Group, House of Fraser, Somerfield, and Mothercare by 2003 and by 2008 French Connection, Oasis, Karen Millen, Whistles, Debenhams, Goldsmiths, Woolworths, and Moss Bros.

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