Karl Albrecht, who founded discount chain Aldi with his late brother Theo, has died aged 94, reportedly as Germany’s richest man.

The brothers went into business in 1948 after selling groceries from their mother’s shop in Essen. Aldi was founded in 1961, taking the name from a contraction of Albrecht Discount and a year later they split the business into Northern and Southern operations, later rolling out into other European countries. Aldi remains the discount market leader in Germany, with an estimated market share of 40%.

The brothers remained notoriously private, even more so after Theo Albrecht was the victim of a kidnapping in 1971, released when seven million Deutschmarks was paid for his safe release.