Ivan Glasenberg
Ivan Glasenberg | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 7, 1957 South Africa |
| Occupation | Business executive |
| Known for | Former CEO of Glencore |
Ivan Glasenberg (born 7 January 1957) is a business leader originally from South Africa and the former chief executive officer of Glencore, a leading global commodity trading and mining corporation. He directed the company from 2002 until 2021. Glasenberg holds citizenship in South Africa, Australia, and acquired Swiss nationality in 2011. By 2025, his net worth was valued at approximately US$9.3 billion according to Forbes and AUD 13.3 billion as listed in the Australian Financial Review 2025 Rich List.
Background and early career
Born into a Jewish family on 7 January 1957 in South Africa, Glasenberg’s father, Samuel Glasenberg, was a Lithuanian-born luggage manufacturer and importer, while his mother, Blanche Vilensky, was South African. The family resided in Illovo, a suburb of Johannesburg. From 1974, Glasenberg attended Hyde Park High School and distinguished himself as a national junior champion in race walking. During this period, he developed a friendship with Mick Davis, who later became CEO of mining firm Xstrata.
He obtained both a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Accountancy degree from the University of the Witwatersrand and became a Chartered Accountant in South Africa. In 1983, Glasenberg completed an MBA via the IBEAR program at the University of Southern California.
Glencore
Glasenberg began his career with Glencore in 1984, starting in coal operations based in South Africa and Australia. Between 1989 and 1990, he oversaw Glencore’s offices in Hong Kong and Beijing before being promoted to lead the coal division in 1991. He assumed the role of CEO in 2002.
In 2005, BusinessWeek highlighted Glasenberg as an influential figure within the commodity trading heritage originating from Marc Rich & Co., Glencore’s predecessor. Marc Rich was a billionaire trader known for contentious deals but later received a presidential pardon from Bill Clinton.
In September 2011, Glasenberg reinvested dividends to boost his ownership stake in Glencore by around US$54 million. By April 2012, he owned more than 15% of Glencore’s shares, making him the 20th wealthiest mining billionaire with an estimated net worth of US$7.3 billion according to Forbes.
He has also held executive director responsibilities at Xstrata since 2002 and occupied non-executive director positions at Minara Resources (from 2000), Rusal (since 2007), and Century Aluminum Co (2010–2011).
Glencore and Xstrata merger
Glasenberg took on the CEO position for the combined entity resulting from the significant US$88 billion merger between Glencore and Xstrata. Originally structured as a merger of equals—with Mick Davis, then CEO of Xstrata, set to serve as CEO and Glasenberg as President—the transaction evolved into a Glencore acquisition following backing from Qatar, a major shareholder in Xstrata. The final share exchange ratio was set at 3.05 Glencore shares for each Xstrata share, with Glasenberg appointed as CEO. Mick Davis resigned in July 2013 amid disagreements with Glasenberg.
Retirement
In December 2020, Glasenberg declared his intention to retire effective in 2021, concluding nearly twenty years as Glencore’s chief executive officer. His concluding initiatives included senior-level discussions in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, appointing a new chairman, and securing full ownership of a prominent coal mine in Colombia. He was succeeded by Gary Nagle, a fellow South African who previously led Glencore’s coal division. As of January 2025, Glasenberg remains Glencore’s largest individual shareholder.
Personal life
Glen Glasenberg is married to Elana Beverley Orelowitz, with whom he has two children. He has represented both South Africa and Israel as a top-level race-walker and keeps up his physical fitness by regularly running and swimming. Currently, he lives in Rüschlikon, Switzerland. After Glencore's initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange, Glasenberg contributed 360 million Swiss francs (£240 million) in taxes to the municipality of Rüschlikon, which allowed the local government to lower its tax rate by 7%. This financial contribution sparked some disapproval among residents due to the contentious nature of Glencore’s business operations.
Net worth
| Year | Financial Review Rich List |
Forbes Australia's 50 Richest | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Net worth (A$) | Position | Net worth (US$) | |
| 2022 | Template:Nts Decrease | $12.20 billion Template:Loss | ||
| 2023 | Template:Nts Template:Up | $13.60 billion Increase | ||
| 2024 | Template:Nts Decrease | $14.86 billion Increase | ||
| 2025 | Template:Nts Template:Up | $13.30 billion Template:Loss | ||
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Icon | Meaning |
| Steady | No change compared to the previous year |
| Increase | Increase relative to prior year |
| Template:Loss | Decrease relative to prior year |
Honours
- Russia
- Awarded the Order of Friendship in 2017
Further reading
- Pages with script errors
- Articles with short description
- Articles with hCards
- No local image but image on Wikidata
- Pages with broken file links
- 1957 births
- Living people
- Australian Jews
- Australian billionaires
- Australian people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
- South African billionaires
- South African commodities traders
- South African financiers
- South African Jews
- South African people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
- South African investors
- South African stock traders
- South African emigrants to Australia
- Swiss financiers
- 21st-century Swiss Jews
- Swiss investors
- Swiss stock traders
- Marshall School of Business alumni
- University of the Witwatersrand alumni
- Swiss billionaires
- Glencore people
- Businesspeople in metals
- People named in the Paradise Papers