Jan Antonín Baťa
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Jan Antonín Baťa (March 7, 1898 – August 23, 1965) (also known as Jan Antonin Bata or Jan Bata, the king of shoes) was a shoe manufacturer born in Zlín and brother of Tomáš Baťa and together with their sister partner of the firm.
He led the Baťa company based in former Czechoslovakia after his brother's death. He purchased T & A Baťa's assets from the estate of his brother Tomas and incorporated the Baťa a.s. in Zlín, in Moravia, Czechoslovakia.
Under Jan the Baťa business expanded further – into shoe machinery, tires, textiles, chemicals, mines, canals, a railway, film studios, manufacture of airplanes, department stores.
At the time of his brother Tomáš' death in 1932, the Baťa organization employed 16,560 people, maintained 1,645 shops and 25 enterprises. Most of it in Moravia and Bohemia (15,770 employees, 1,500 shops, 25 enterprises) and Slovakia (2 enterprises, 250 employees). The international businesses of the Baťa company consisted of 790 employees, 132 shops and 20 international enterprises.
Under Jan the Bohemian and Moravian part of the business more than doubled its size to 38,000 employees, 2,200 shops, and 70 enterprises. In Slovakia, he grew the business from 250 employees to 12,340 and 8 enterprises.
Before WWII Jan and his family fled the nazis for the US and finally settled in Brazil, where he founded there several towns, including: Bataiporã, Bataguassu, Batatuba, Anaurilândia and Mariaopolis. [1]
Up to his death, Jan expanded the organization more than sixfolds of its original size throughout Czechoslovakia and the world. From the time of his brother's death in 1932 to 1942, he grew the Bata organization to 105,770 employees.
The Baťaviles were new cities, new industrial communities, based and developed on the "ideal city" model. Land purchases included in the Czech Republic: Moravia, Bohemia, and Slovakia, then over a dozen countries including England, France, Belgium, Holland, Poland, Yugoslavia, USA, India, and Brazil.
