JAB Holding Co. Chairman Peter Harf in Paris in June 2019.
Photographer: Andrea Mantovani/The New York Times/ReduxSecretive Dynasty Missed Out on Billions While Advisers Got Rich
Peter Harf and Olivier Goudet became billionaires while managing the Reimanns’ money. The family would have done better if they’d put their wealth in a low-cost index fund.
Peter Harf and Olivier Goudet, advisers to one of the world’s richest families, had an audacious strategy to grow the clan’s wealth: They would build a portfolio of coffee investments to rival industry giant Nestle SA.
They spent about $30 billion on the effort, snapping up a series of brands through JAB Holding Co., which they created in 2012 to invest the family’s fortune. They paid a 78% premium for K-cup maker Keurig, now part of Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. They bought Starbucks muse Peet’s Coffee and merged it with 271-year-old Dutch beverage group Jacobs Douwe Egberts. And they branched into coffee on-the-go with a series of fast-casual restaurants, buying Krispy Kreme, Panera Bread and Pret A Manger.