Ernesto Bertarelli
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Ernesto Bertarelli (born 22 September 1965) is a Swiss / Italian businessman.
Born in Rome, Bertarelli was CEO and Deputy Chairman of Serono, a Swiss biotechnology company he inherited from his father. Serono was sold to Merck KGaA of Germany in September 2006 for US$13.3 billion, forming a new company Merck-Serono.
His personal wealth was estimated by Forbes' List of billionaires (2007) at US$8.8 billion.
In 2000, he founded the yachting syndicate Team Alinghi. In 2003, Alinghi won the Louis Vuitton Cup before beating Team New Zealand to win the America's Cup. The Skipper of Alinghi, New Zealander Russell Coutts, was Skipper during Team New Zealand's successful America's Cup campaign in San Diego in 1995 and successful defense in Auckland in 2000, and along with tactician Brad Butterworth, sailors Warwick Fleury, Simon Daubney, and Murray Jones had been lured to Alinghi with large contracts.
Coutts subequently took Bertarelli to arbitration court over employment issues arising shortly after winning the cup. Coutts resigned and Bertarelli, as holder of the America's Cup, changed the rules of the competition to prevent Coutts from joining another team. The rule is affectionately known worldwide as the 'Russell Coutts rule' and one of the low points in the Cup's long history.
Bertarelli's actions during the 2007 America's Cup in Valencia, and the 2003 campaign in Auckland have attracted criticism from New Zealand. Specifically for the fact that the Swiss sailing team won the cup by "purchasing key members of the New Zealand team", according to some yachting fans. On July 3, 2007, Team Alinghi beat Team New Zealand over the line by 1 second to retain the America's Cup, winning the series 5-2. Bertarelli said the evening during the Swiss news on TV that "Russell Coutts memory is now over" [1].
Bertarelli is ranked 76 in an annual ranking of the world's wealthiest people compiled and published by Forbes magazine in March 2007[2].
He graduated from Babson College and Harvard Business School.
Married Kirsty Roper (Miss UK 1988) in 2000, they have 3 children (London Daily Mail Profile of Kirsty Roper).
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[edit] References
- ^ http://real.xobix.ch/ramgen/tsr/tj/2007/tj_07032007-450k.rm?start=00:11:02.500&end=00:13:41.583
- ^ "The World's Billionaires", Forbes, 8 Mar 2007. Retrieved on 2007-03-21.
