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| Businesswoman Maria Franca Fissolo Image |
Full Name Maria Franca Fissolo Ferrero
Source of Wealth Nutella, Chocolates
Marital Status Widowed (Michele Ferrero)
Nationality Italian
Occupation Businesswoman
Net Worth : $24 Billion
Children 2 (Pietro, Giovanni)
Maria Franca Fissolo is the widow of Michele Ferrero, who built Ferrero Group into one of the world's leading sweets companies, with its iconic Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread, Kinder chocolates and Tic-Tac mints. Ferrero died in February 2014.
His father Pietro got his start during World War II in Alba in northern Italy, where he set up a lab to supply his wife's pastry shop. Faced with rationed cocoa, he used the region's plentiful hazelnuts to create the spread that would eventually become Nutella.
In 1949 Pietro died, briefly leaving the company in his brother's hands before son Michele took over. In 1987, Michele Ferrero made his sons Pietro and Giovanni co-CEOs. In 2011, Pietro, a cycling enthusiast, died suddenly during a bicycle training ride in South Africa. Giovanni, a published novelist, is still chief executive, and has reiterated plans to keep the company in family hands
