For the first time in the history of the international holding company, the PPF was forced to report a net loss over the last year. The company was founded by the recently deceased richest man in Czechia, Petr Kellner. He left this world in a small helicopter crash under extremely unfortunate circumstances, which caused emergency services to arrive late for all but one passenger of the helicopter. The PPF was Kellner’s main business venture for most of his adult life. The company was first founded in 1991, shortly after the fall of the communist regime, to act as a fund that would make purchases during the privatization process for its investors. Even its name, PPF, loosely translates to First Privatization Fund. While it did manage to amass a noteworthy amount of wealth during the chaotic privatization process in Czechoslovakia, it had to move away from its initial purpose after it was over. It soon became a regular holding company, with large shares in both state-owned businesses an private companies. Now, its reach extends all over the globe, with activities in Asia, Europe and the Americas. After earning almost 1 billion euro in 2019, in faced a sharp decline in 2020, as the pandemic caused the company to lose 249 million euro. It will be fascinating to see how this business giant will cope with such losses without its founding father, Petr Kellner.
