Graf is the owner of Novomatic Group, a maker and distributor of slot-machines. The Gumpoldskirchen, Austria-based company employs about 24,000 staff, has more than 235,000 slot machines and controls about 1,600 gaming facilities. Closely held Novomatic is Europe's largest gaming group, according to its website.
Johann Graf's net worth of $7.58B can buy ...
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The majority of Graf's fortune is derived from his ownership of Novomatic Group, a Gumpoldskirchen, Austria-based casino manager and producer of gaming machines. The closely held company had revenue of 3.9 billion euros ($4.3 billion) in 2015, according to the company's website.
Novomatic Group comprises Novomatic AG, ACE Casino Holding and Gryphon Invest. It's valued as a whole using group Ebitda and the average enterprise value-to-Ebitda multiple of three peer companies: International Game Technology, Scientific Games, and Aristocrat Leisure. A 15 percent liquidity discount is added to reflect the fact that Novomatic has a lower Ebitda margin than the peer group average.
Prior to Dec. 21, 2016, the valuation was based on the median takeover value-to-Ebitda multiple of two peer companies: Bally Technologies and SHFL Entertainment. Bally Technologies was acquired for more than $5 billion in November 2014 following its acquisition of SHFL Entertainment for $1.3 billion in November 2013.
The value of his cash investments is based on an analysis of taxes, dividends and market performance.
Graf was born into a family of meat butchers in 1947, and grew up with his grandparents in Perchtoldsorf, Austria. At age 23, he was named Austria's youngest-ever master butcher by the country’s meat industry, and left the family business to begin importing pinball machines from Belgium in 1974. He started Novomatic six years later, developing new types of slot machines by taking advantage of the gambling industry's transition to electronic gaming.
Working from the company's headquarters in the Austrian wine-producing village of Gumpoldskirchen, Graf expanded his gambling business throughout Western Europe over the course of the next three decades. He has built or developed about 20 casinos, 1,500 slot arcades and more than 450 casino, online and mobile gambling games.
The billionaire was picked as Austria’s "Man of the Year" by Trend magazine in 2008. He's divorced, a father of three children, and has a collection of about 125 vintage cars.