With a net worth of $13.9 billion, Stefano Pessina is an Italian entrepreneur.
In 1977, Stefano Pessina, a former nuclear engineer, acquired his family’s pharmaceutical wholesaler in Naples and subsequently transformed it into Alliance UniChem Group.
The U.K. and the group merged in 2006.
Today, Alliance Boots has merged with the pharmacy chain Boots Group.
After a year, he assumed the role of Executive Chairman of the company and has held that position ever since.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) provided financing for the IPO of Alliance Boots, which went private in the same year.
In September 2012, Alliance Boots entered into a strategic partnership with Nanjing Pharmaceutical, China’s fifth largest pharmaceutical wholesaler, with the aim of expanding globally.
Pessina is not only the executive chairman of Alliance Boots but also a member of Walgreens’ Board of Directors and the Board of Directors of the Consumer Goods Forum.
Stefano Pessina’s ownership of Walgreens Boots Alliance, a drugstore company, resulted in him being ranked as the 6th richest man in Italy as of March 2013.
Pessina bought a stake in Walgreens in 2012 and then acquired Alliance Boots.
In 2014, he received 35 percent of the proceeds from a transaction when Walgreens bought the remaining 55 percent for $5.3 billion.
The Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue in 2016 was $117 billion.