Pon Holdings also remains a big player in cycling, and in January completed the $810 million purchase of Dorel Industries Inc.’s sports segment for its bicycle unit. The company claims that 75% of Dutch people own a bike made by Pon.
The current patriarch is 78-year-old Wijnand Pon. A firm he manages owns about 95% of Pon Holdings and has paid out more than 200 million euros in dividends in the past decade, according to registry filings. His daughter Linda helps oversee Knop, while another, Fanja, is president of Pon Holdings’s supervisory board and chair of Ponooc’s investment committee.
The Pons no longer control their company’s daily operations. Long-time employees Janus Smalbraak and Bas Sprong are its chief executive officer and chief financial officer, respectively.
Wijnand Pon opted for a career in agriculture instead of working in his family’s firm. He founded Koepon, a farming business with operations in Germany, the Netherlands and Scotland.
“My father allowed me to buy a farm,” Pon said in a June 2021 interview with the Dairy Show podcast, adding that he wanted to be a farmer since he was 18. “I was very fortunate.”
--With assistance from Tom Maloney and Pei Yi Mak.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.