Giovanni Agnelli In 1899, Giovanni Agnelli (1866–1945) and a group of investors founded the company Fabbrica Italiana di Automobili Torino (Fiat).
Edoardo Agnelli Edoardo Agnelli (1892–1935), industrialist and vice-president of the Italian car company Fiat and IFI, was the son of Giovanni Agnelli (1866–1945), the founder of Fiat. He had seven children, Clara (1920–2016), Gianni (1921–2003), Susanna (1922–2009), Maria Sole Agnelli (1925–2025), Cristiana (1927–), Giorgio Agnelli (1929–1965) and Umberto (1934–2004). Agnelli's daughter Susanna Agnelli was the first woman to have been Minister of Foreign Affairs in Italy.
Gianni Agnelli Gianni Agnelli (1921–2003) was the oldest son of the industrialist and principal family shareholder of the Italian car company Fiat,
Edoardo Agnelli. After WWII he earned a law degree at Turin University and his nickname was L'Avvocato ("The Lawyer"). He was the head of Fiat from 1966 to 2003 and made the company into the most important company in Italy and one of the major car builders of Europe. Gianni was a Fiat CEO. By 1956 he had become the "richest businessman in modern Italian history". During that time Fiat's production in Italy "peaked in 1970, when it employed well over 100,000 people there and made 1.4 million cars." Romiti led the firm from 28 February 1996 to 22 June 1998. Romiti was instrumental in the company's return to profitability during this period. Paolo Fresco succeeded him in the aforementioned post. February 1992 saw the start of the
mani pulite (Clean Hands) judicial inquiry into
Tangentopoli, nationwide corruption with a large number of politicians, bureaucrats and entrepreneurs involved including senior Fiat executives. "Mr. Romiti and Mr. Mattioli had approved a series of slush funds from 1980 through 1992 to provide for Fiat's illegal political contributions and had falsified accounts to hide the payments." Giovanni Alberto Agnelli, Gianni's nephew, who died of cancer in 1997, had been in line to take control of the family companies. In 1997 Gianni publicly announced that his grandson, John Elkann, who was then 21, would succeed him as the head of the family empire. They had one son
Edoardo Agnelli and one daughter
Countess Margherita Agnelli de
Pahlen. According to the
Independent Fiat survived the early first years of the twentieth century thanks to "generous government subsidies paid by Italian taxpayers." Gianni explained his popularity in Italy by saying that he was "always present". "There was a war and I, like many others, took part. Then there were other events such as closer relations with the Americans, and I was there. ... We had difficult moments such as terrorism, and I never pulled back. In the course of our lives, of our generation, there also have been happier moments." When he knew he was dying and Fiat was in financial trouble, Gianni asked Umberto to return as Fiat's CEO. Fiat had taken out a three-billion-euro loan in 2002 and was unable to pay it back. If they were unable to find a solution, Fiat would belong to its creditor banks. Umberto Agnelli was chairman of IFIL Group, the family investment company. received an estimated inheritance of $2 billion when her father, Gianni Agnelli died. In a lawsuit filed in 2007 and rejected in 2010, Margherita Agnelli asked the annullation of the 2004 inheritance agreement signed with her mother; she said that it was based on incomplete information. She had three children John, Lapo and Ginevra from her first marriage with
Alain Elkann who inherited the largest shares of the Agnelli fortune. She had five other children from her second and current husband, Count Serge de
Pahlen.
John Elkann John Elkann (born 1976) is the CEO of
Exor, an investment company controlled by the Agnelli family, which controls
Stellantis,
CNH Industrial,
Ferrari,
Juventus FC,
Cushman & Wakefield and the
Economist Group. In 2013 he was considered to be the world's fourth most influential manager under the age of 40 by
Fortune magazine. He was chosen as heir to the family empire in 1997 by his grandfather
Gianni Agnelli who died in 2003. Currently, Elkann chairs and controls the automaker Stellantis (which owns the
Abarth,
Alfa Romeo,
Chrysler,
Citroën,
Dodge,
DS,
Fiat,
Fiat Professional,
Jeep,
Lancia,
Maserati,
Mopar,
Opel,
Peugeot,
Ram and
Vauxhall brands). He is the oldest son of
Alain Elkann and Margherita Agnelli de Pahlen. In 2004 John Elkann married
Donna Lavinia Borromeo, an heiress of the Borromeo family. His grandmother, Marella Agnelli (1927–2019) gave her shares to him to secure his control of the family empire. She divided up Gianni Agnelli's (1934–2003) personal assets with her daughter, Margherita Agnelli de Pahlen. Fiat formerly represented 4.4% of Italy's GDP. From 2001 to 2004 Fiat had lost more than 6 billion euros and was close to bankruptcy. CEO Sergio Marchionne returned the company to profit in 2005. In 2009 as the U.S. automobile industry was collapsing Fiat became a trailblazer by acquiring an initial 20% stake in the then-bankrupt Chrysler company in a deal with the Obama administration. This saved Chrysler. By 2013 Fiat was taking full control of Chrysler and merging Fiat-Chrysler into a global giant. By 2013 Chrysler was profitable again but an article in
The Economist questioned the financial future of the merged company.
Edoardo Agnelli Edoardo Agnelli (9 June 1954 – 15 November 2000) was the eldest child and only son of
Gianni Agnelli, the industrialist patriarch of
Fiat S.p.A.., and of
Marella Agnelli. He converted to
Islam when he was living in
New York City, and changed his name to
Hisham Aziz and later to
Mahdi after converting to
Shia Islam. In mid-November 2000, he was found dead under a bridge on the outskirts of
Turin. ==Family councilors==