Johann Georg Wyss known as Hansjörg Wyss (born 19 September 1935) is a Swiss billionaire businessman and donor to politically liberal and environmental causes in the United States. He is the founder and the former president and chairman of Synthes Holding AG, a medical device manufacturer. His Wyss Foundation has more than $2 billion in assets. As of March 2022, Wyss had a net worth of US$5.1 billion, according to Forbes. Having donated hundreds of millions of dollars to environmental causes, he has more recently increased his donations to groups promoting progressive causes. He is currently the co-owner of Premier League football club Chelsea.
Wyss was born in Bern, Switzerland, in 1935. His father sold mechanical calculators and his mother was a homemaker. He was brought up in a flat with two sisters. After receiving a master's degree in civil and structural engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich in 1959, Wyss earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1965. Following that, he worked in various positions in the textile industry, including as a factory engineer and project manager for Chrysler in Pakistan, Turkey, and the Philippines.
Wyss also worked in the steel industry in Brussels, Belgium. During his time working in that industry, Wyss ran a side business selling airplanes. Through one sale, he met a surgeon who had co-founded Swiss medical device manufacturer Synthes. After that meeting, Wyss spent two years learning about the medical device industry. He then founded and became president of Synthes USA in 1977.
According to Forbes, Wyss is "among the most philanthropic people in the world". Between 2004 and 2008, Businessweek estimated that Wyss personally donated nearly US$277 million. His giving increased subsequent to the sale of Synthes in 2012. In 2013, he signed The Giving Pledge, agreeing to give away the majority of his fortune. The assets of his charitable foundations equal nearly $2 billion.
He has made major donations to environmental and scientific causes, as well as progressive organizations, including the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, Health Leads, and the Constitutional Accountability Center.
In 2019, Wyss promised to donate 20 million swiss francs to the Bern Art Museum. He made it a condition that the Hodlerstrasse, on which the museum is located, be free of cars.
In 2015, Wyss publicly declared that he was in favor of higher inheritance taxes for the wealthy in Switzerland.[34]
Wyss is a member of the Democracy Alliance, a club of liberal donors.[26]
There has been a longstanding rivalry between billionaire Wyss, who supports liberal politics, and billionaire Christoph Blocher, who supports conservative politics. Both entered into public debates about the bilateral agreements between Switzerland and the European Union as well as the limitation of immigration into Switzerland. Wyss highlighted the advantages of openness toward the EU and immigrants while Blocher advocated for Switzerland's independence in those matters
The Hub Project
In 2021, The New York Times reported that Wyss had "quietly created a sophisticated political operation to advance progressive policy initiatives and the Democrats who support them".[26] In 2015, the Wyss Foundation initiated The Hub Project, which seeks "to shape media coverage to help Democratic causes". The goal of The Hub Project is to help Democrats be more effective at conveying their arguments through the news media and directly to voters. It seeks to "dramatically shift the public debate and policy positions of core decision makers". The Hub Project engaged in paid advertising campaigns in 2018 that criticized Republican congressional candidates.[26]
The Hub Project is part of Arabella Advisors, a leading vehicle for funneling "dark money" on the political center-left. The Hub Project is housed within the Arabella-sponsored groups the New Venture Fund and the Sixteen Thirty Fund. Between 2007 and 2020, the Wyss Foundation donated approximately $56.5 million to these groups. The New Venture Fund underwrites Acronym, which owns the Courier Newsroom, a group seeking to boost Democratic candidates through local news stories and advertising.[26]
The Wyss Foundation has donated to States Newsroom, a nonprofit media group. Media watchdog NewsGuard said State Newsroom's journalism had been "bought by people with a political agenda".[26]
In 2021, along with Stewart W. Bainum Jr., Wyss made a bid to buy Tribune Publishing, which publishes newspapers including The Chicago Tribune and The Baltimore Sun. The New York Times reported that "the big-money activism of Mr. Wyss and Mr. Bainum highlights concerns that wealthy owners may try to influence news coverage to advance their political agendas",[26] and on April 14, 2021,[36] they identified him as the top bidder. On April 17, 2021, Wyss backed out of the potential deal while Bainum Jr. continued to seek alternate investors in his bid to buy Tribune Publishing.[37]
Personal life
In 2014, Wyss said he carried only a Swiss passport and did not have a U.S. green card.[26] As of 2021, The New York Times wrote, he "has not disclosed publicly whether he holds citizenship or permanent residency" in the U.S.[38]
Wyss lives in Wyoming.[39] His daughter, Amy, is a resident of Wyoming also.[40] Wyss is a hiker, skier, and backpacker.[18] He also is a hobby pilot.[4] He is involved in outdoor education programs and he funds local efforts to conserve wildlife habitat and public lands in the Rocky Mountains.[18][41]
In 2000, Wyss purchased the 900-acre (3.6 km2) Halter Ranch and Vineyard in western Paso Robles, California.[42] The ranch includes an 1,800-acre wildlife reserve and a 281-acre vineyard producing 13 varietals of grapes using methods that are "Sustainability in Practice" certified. The ranch hosts tours and was named "Best Vineyard Experience" by Sunset Magazine in 2015.[43]
As of 2017, Wyss ranked 281 on the Forbes list of billionaires, with an estimated net worth of approximately $5.5 billion.[44][29] He ranks number 235 on the Bloomberg list of billionaires.[8]
On May 6, 2022 Chelsea F.C. announced that the club agreed to terms with a new ownership group, of which Wyss is a member.[45] The acquisition was completed on May 30, 2022.[2]
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