Flick's Fortunes

When German Industrialist Friedrich Flick reached his 80th birthday this month, he celebrated by donating more than a million dollars to charity and scientific research. Flick's generosity is one result of a remarkable accomplishment: the reconstruction of his personal fortune. Just 13 years after his release from Landsberg prison, where he served five years of a seven-year term for using Nazi slave labor in his factories, Flick once again heads Germany's biggest and most powerful industrial empire. He controls an interlocking maze of 156 companies in autos, steel, chemicals and paper whose annual sales total is more than $2 billion --nearly twice that of the Krupp empire. His personal wealth has been set by tax collectors at $400 million, which makes him Germany's wealthiest man.

Sixth Sense. Flick rode high under the Nazis, with enough holdings in coal and steel to make him a reichsmark billionaire. During his imprisonment, 75% of his wealth was confiscated, and after his release Allied authorities forced him to sell the remainder of his coal interests. At first this seemed a bitter blow, but when the coal industry hit a depression in 1958 Flick turned out to be set with plenty of cash. With an unerring sixth sense for economic trends, he resisted advice to concentrate all he had in steel, decided that most growth would be in autos, chemicals and paper, and set out to pyramid his holdings in each field. He bought 40% control of prestigious Daimler-Benz (Mercedes) to form a solid auto base, got a small car to sell by adding the struggling Auto Union. In an age of business managers, Flick is still an imperious and self-confident tycoon. "One must have an eye for how much a plant is worth," he says. "I fancy myself as having this eye, Because I know how a plant works."

Strong Advice. At 80, Flick still has a ramrod-straight back. Virtually his only relaxation is strolling alone, head down, through the vast park surrounding Haus Hobeck, his spacious 15-room villa near Duesseldorf. On the job he avoids all small talk, turns out a prodigious amount of work each day at the 100-man headquarters of his holding company on two rented floors in Duesseldorf. He is frequently on the phone to such key managers as Walter Hitzinger of Daimler-Benz, constantly amazes them with his grasp of intricate details.

The uncompromising Flick never gives direct orders, but his managers have learned that any "advice" he gives is as good as an order. His oldest son, Otto-Ernst, 47, made the mistake recently of questioning the old man's judgment, started a court battle to change the way in which Flick had decided to dispense his wealth after his death. Beaten in court, Otto-Ernst no longer has any connection with his unforgiving father's industrial combine. His more obedient younger brother, Friedrich-Karl, 36, is now the heir apparent.

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