Czech Billionaires: 2023 Wealth Surge

Three big hotels in Prague, Viktorka football club, half of Mafra, the Česká spořitelna skyscraper, AAA car dealerships…

There is no end to the growth of the largest Czech business groups. They close the year 2025 mostly on new financial records and, as has been the custom lately, with further additions to the list of acquired companies.

Brands such as PPF, EPH, KKCG, CSG or Penta are already well established abroad, but they are not looking to expand domestically either. And it’s not just a world of money, it’s also about influence and power. The oldest multi-billionaire became prime minister, other top players are actively building new business relationships with the state in the energy or arms industry and are looking for ways to transform society in their own image.

As a breeding ground for billionaires, the Czech Republic has proven itself far better than other countries in the region. We have 11 representatives in the ranking of Forbes magazine – one woman and ten men with assets over a billion dollars. More than wealthier Austria or larger Poland, and already in the long term.

The 100 largest companies with domestic owners, from which Seznam Zprávy compiles the Česká elite ranking based on estimated market value every year in the fall, together crossed the four trillion crown mark for the first time this year. On average, they grew by 14 percent per year, i.e. significantly more than the economy as a whole.

Media, energy or development are fields where domestic capital has dominated for a long time. In these spheres, the practices of the 1990s, when large-scale business was mainly funded by foreign investors, no longer apply. The largest Czech companies have already turned the game around and, on the contrary, are exporting their capital in a big way.

Elsewhere, in industry, retail or banking, foreign investors still lead. But even here the ice is slowly breaking. In addition to the five multinational banking groups, which have been operating as market hegemons for a long time, a second five domestic retail competitors have grown up in recent years. Over the past year, their value has increased by a fifth.

The total assets of the eleven Czech representatives in Forbes have been growing by an average of nine percent per year in recent years, i.e. again far more than the entire economy. The representation of domestic companies among the largest tax payers is also growing. Of the 64 companies that agreed to be published in the Financial Administration ranking this year, 17 were domestic.

The predominance of foreign owners has been a tradition in the Czech Republic since the 1990s. Their role is large, but it is not growing much anymore – the volume of accumulated foreign direct investment in relation to GDP has remained stable at around 65 percent for the last decade.

The opposite figure, the volume of domestic investments abroad, is rising, which is just another example of the increasingly strong position of local entrepreneurs. Although there is still a long way to a balanced capital balance, the score is gradually improving (see graph). As is the ratio between dividend outflows and inflows. The inflow is a record this year, in the first ten months it amounted to 143 billion. This is three and a half times more than ten years ago.

Specific forays abroad are well known. This year, Daniel Křetínský completed a record-breaking Czech business abroad, the purchase of the British Royal Mail, and at the same time took control of the pan-European business network Metro/Makro. PPF Group expanded its largest leg, telecommunications, with a new business in Serbia, lottery Allwyn acquired a new major daughter in the USA. Penta is launching a project with a fifty-story skyscraper by the Thames in London.

However, after taking stock of the achievements of Czech billionaires, the question arises as to what actually results from the greater power of domestic capital for the state of the local economy and society.

Strong domestic firms are generally seen as something that is better to have than not to have. Well-known brands grow out of them, and thus a higher added value than nameless subcontractors. They have their headquarters with decision-making powers, top-paying jobs and innovation teams at home.

This can also be seen in places in the Czech Republic. But what he is waiting for is something more – a state that, for example, Denmark has enjoyed in recent years thanks to its pharmaceutical entrepreneurs or, on a larger scale, the United States with its giants of the digital economy and artificial intelligence. In other words, the “national champions” will start to have a wider impact as the leaders of the whole country in addition to their own success.

The Czechs know this effect well from their experience with Škoda Auto, which has been working as an engine since the 90s (and continues to do so, this year it surprisingly became the third best-selling brand in Europe). Škoda has its owners abroad, but it is still more “our” than a purely Czech empire. Among them, a follower of a similar type is hard to find.

It is unfortunate, but unfortunately there is no automatic connection between the number of billionaires and the strength of the economy anywhere in the world. You can prosper with or without them. Quantity in itself is not enough (sometimes it can be harmful). As can be seen in the Czech Republic, where life is not bad, but economically the country has been struggling for a long time, no matter how high the flag is in the Forbes ranking.

Czech capitalism has so far learned to get rich, but not to drag. It produces winners, not leaders of change. Maybe it’s time to raise the stakes. Not just to applaud the fact that capital “is” at home, but to want it to move the country forward more. For now, the Czech economy relies more on the first option. Until that changes, the number of billionaires will remain more of a curiosity than a competitive advantage.