Herlin family

Herlin family   (Family)
Headquarters	Finland
Membership	•  Axel Niklas Herli •  Rafael Herlin •  Walter Albert Herlin •  Harald Herlin •  Heikki H. Herlin •  Pekka Herlin •  Hanna Nurminen •  Antti Herlin •  Jussi Herlin •  Iiris Herlin •  Anna Herlin •  Ilkka Herlin •  Niklas Herlin •  Heikki Herlin •  Ilona Herlin
Finnish billionaire family. Heavy Bilderberg habit, ties to the Wallenberg Sphere.

The Herlin family is a Finnish family whose members are the main shareholders of the Finnish company Kone Corporation. According to historian Markku Kuisma, the Herlin family is probably "the wealthiest family in both relative and absolute terms in the history of independent Finland". At the beginning of 2015, Helsingin Sanomat calculated that Herlins owned shares in listed companies worth approximately EUR 6.8 billion, many times more than any other family in Finland and more than the 20 next richest families combined.

Harald Herlin bought the machine company in 1924 from Strömberg and developed the company together with his son Heikki Herlin. after Heikki, Kone's management was taken over by his son Pekka Herlin, during which time the company grew into Finland's first multinational company. Pekka's son Antti Herlin, who in 2010 became the first Finn in Forbes' list of the richest people in the world, is as 0f 2023 the major owner of the company.

Members of the family

• Axel Niklas Herlin (1838-1906), merchant and jurist known as Finland's first socialist
• Rafael Herlin (1865-1928), Forester and Doctor of philosophy
• Walter Albert Herlin (1871-1921), civil servant and editor
• Harald Herlin (1874-1941), founder and president of Kone Corporation
  • Heikki H. Herlin (1901-1989) CEO and major owner of Kone Corporation, son of Harald Herlin
    • Pekka Herlin (1932-2003), major owner of Kone Corporation, CEO and chairman of the board, son of Heikki Herlin
      • Hanna Nurminen (née Herlin, B.1955), agent and chairman of the board of Kone Foundation, daughter of Pekka Herlin
      • Antti Herlin (B. 1956), major owner of Kone Corporation, chairman of the board, son of Pekka Herlin
        • Jussi Herlin (B. 1984), vice chairman of the board of Kone Corporation, son of Antti Herlin
        • Iiris Herlin (B. 1989), board member of Kone Corporation, daughter of Antti Herlin
        • Anna Herlin (B. 1982), board member of Sanoma Corporation, daughter of Antti Herlin
      • Ilkka Herlin (born 1959), chairman of the Board of Cargotec Plc and major owner, Son of Pekka Herlin
      • Niklas Herlin (1963-2017), editor and publisher, major owner of Cargotec Plc, son of Pekka Herlin
        • Heikki Herlin (B. 1990), major owner of Cargotec, Alma Media and Oriola, son of Niklas Herlin
      • Ilona Herlin (born 1965), linguist, major owner of Cargotec Plc, daughter of Pekka Herlin

Pekka Herlin

During Pekka Herlin's tenure as CEO and chairman of the board from 1964 to 2003, Kone grew from a company with just under two thousand employees to the country's first globally operating company with over 33,000 employees. According to Pekka Herlin's children, their father suffered from schizophrenia, paranoia and manic depression, as well as narcissistic personality disorder. Advanced alcoholism made matters worse. In connection with a 2009 book about Pekka, Niklas Herlin, speaking of his father by his first and last name said "Pekka Herlin, I don't know what those values were, but he did admire those who set themselves outside society. For example, this book by Mario Puzo, The Godfather, he got really excited about it, that the family should be organized like that, that it has nothing to do with society . . . It was a value he was trying to teach us, too, that it's better to be outside of society."

Pekka's wife Kirsti said "There was a strange activity in Pekka's life. He had partners who turned out to be quite criminal".

In the early 1980s Pekka Herlin, with Nokia's Kari Kairamo and Wärtsilä's Tankmar Horn, was part of the group that tried to get Ahti Karjalainen to succeed President Urho Kekkonen. The trio supported Karjalainen even though he was severely alcoholic.

 

Known members

2 of the 15 of the members already have pages here:

Member	Description
Antti Herlin	Multi-billionaire Finnish businessman and media owner.
Jussi Herlin	WEF YGL 2023 who first went to the Bilderberg in 2025 as vice chair of the KONE corporation

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