Germany has - since the Schlecker bankruptcy - three large drugstore chains.

The patriarchs of the two largest are or were public figures.

Götz Werner, founder of the market leader dm, who died in February, campaigned for an unconditional basic income and was a self-confessed anthroposophist.

Dirk Roßmann is committed to climate policy and has become a writer.

The third, however, Erwin Müller, is not public.

He made headlines nationwide when he invested in a fund that participated in the cum-ex deals.

The affair ended lightly for him.

Gustave parts

Business correspondent in Stuttgart.

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Müller still flirts with the humble beginnings.

The hairdresser opened his first salon in 1953 in his parents' apartment near Ulm.

He invested in other barber shops and sold drugstore products.

A decade later, he quarreled with the guild because he was also open on Mondays.

Inspired by US chains, he opened the first "Drogeriemarkt Müller" in the early 1970s.

Previously, Müller, now a master hairdresser, was on the verge of bankruptcy after a fire.

Speculations, self-disclosure, gliding

The market becomes the cornerstone of an empire.

According to the group, Müller has around 35,000 employees and almost 900 branches.

The US magazine "Forbes" puts his fortune at 2.3 billion dollars, in 2019 it was 3.7 billion dollars.

He is actually considered frugal, but sometimes he speculates, he lost a lot of money with currency transactions a decade ago.

There was also a self-disclosure because he had not taxed capital gains from Switzerland for years.

He is also generous when it comes to the city of Ulm and social institutions.

On Mallorca he is said to have a finca, a winery and a golf course, in Hungary a legendary coffee house and a hunting ground.

He set world records in gliding and cleared his head.

Despite his age, Müller is still in the office every day.

"You can call me a liar or an old donkey if I'm still in the company at the age of 65," he is said to have said on his 60th birthday three decades ago.

Since then, all his attempts to arrange his successor have failed.

There is no contact with his son, who worked for the company for a while, says someone who has known him for a long time.

Müller's management style is considered traditional, hierarchical and obsessed with detail.

Insiders say he doesn't think much of working from home.

He also alienates young managers.

One speaks of a “toxic environment”.

He sold a branch that dared to set up a works council.

"So I pulled the emergency brake"

A good two weeks ago, he took over sole management of the group again after parting ways with managing director Günther Helm, who was to become his successor.

The company itself justified the separation last week with a significant drop in earnings in January 2022. "So I pulled the emergency brake and took over the lead again," Müller is quoted as saying.

"In July 2022 we were again generating the usual income with a significant increase." There is now a four-person management team with him as a consultant.

However, insiders describe Helm's team as extremely successful from an economic point of view.

He is convinced that the company is now well prepared for the future.

"For that long, God willing, I'll go to the company every day and not let anyone else's know-it-alls tell me otherwise." That no longer sounds like a retreat.

This Thursday Erwin Müller will be 90 years old.