page_title: Andrej Babiš
section_title: Business career
hierarchical_section_title: Andrej Babiš / Business career
caption_attribution_description: Čeština: Praha-Chodov. Chodovec, Klíčova, Pyšelská 2327/2, Agrofert. English: Prague-Chodov. Chodovec, Klíčova, Pyšelská 2327/2, Agrofert. Camera location50°&#160;02′&#160;20.1″&#160;N, 14°&#160;29′&#160;48.7″&#160;E&#160;&#160;&#160;View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap - Google Earth
context_page_description: Andrej Babiš is a Czech politician serving as the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic since December 2017 and the founding leader of ANO 2011 since 2012. He previously served as Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister from 2014 to 2017. Prior to entering politics, he was a businessman.
  Born in Bratislava in present-day Slovakia, Babiš moved to the Czech Republic following the Velvet Revolution. During a lengthy business career, he rose to become the second richest man in the Czech Republic, with an estimated net worth of about $4.04 billion according to Bloomberg. Much of this wealth came from his time as CEO and owner of the Agrofert Group, which owns two of the largest Czech newspapers, Mladá fronta DNES and Lidové noviny.
  Babiš entered politics in 2012, forming ANO 2011. Despite being a new party, ANO 2011 performed strongly at the 2013 election, finishing just three seats behind winners ČSSD. He was duly appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance by Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka. In May 2017, Sobotka sacked Babiš following a crisis triggered by allegations that Babiš avoided paying taxes when CEO of Agrofert.
context_section_description: Babiš returned from Morocco to Czechoslovakia in 1991, after the Velvet Revolution, and settled in the Czech Republic after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia.
  In January 1993, Babiš became managing director of a newly established Petrimex subsidiary operating in the Czech Republic, Agrofert. He had suggested establishing Agrofert while he was a director at Petrimex, during which time Agrofert was recapitalised by OFI, a company of unknown ownership based in Baar, Switzerland, which took control of Agrofert from Petrimex. Petrimex later fired Babiš and sued him, unsuccessfully, for allowing the firm's stake in Agrofert to be diluted. Soon thereafter, Babiš emerged as the 100% owner of Agrofert. The source of the initial financing for Babiš's takeover of Agrofert from Petrimex was still undisclosed as of the start of 2016, although Babiš has said that the money came from his Swiss former schoolmates.
  Babiš gradually developed Agrofert into one of the largest companies in the country, starting as a wholesale and trading firm, but later acquiring various agricultural, food processing, and chemical companies. In 2011 Agrofert Holding consisted of more than 230 companies, mainly in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and (Germany). It is the fourth largest company in the Czech Republic by revenue, exceeding CZK 117 billion. The history of Agrofert, detailed in a book by the journalist Tomáš Pergler, is closely linked to its control of the Czech petrochemicals industry. One reviewer of the book said the account "captures much of what has led Czechs to the conviction that they live in a corrupted, clientist country – and (paradoxically) then to vote for the ANO movement." When Babiš entered politics he resigned as CEO, but remained sole owner until February 2017, when he was legally obliged to put his companies in a trust to remain as Minister of Finance.
  While Babiš's business activities initially focused mainly on agriculture, he later acquired a large empire of media companies. In 2013, Agrofert purchased the company MAFRA, publisher of two of the biggest Czech newspapers, Lidové noviny and Mladá fronta DNES, and operator of the Óčko television company. Agrofert also owns Radio Impuls, the most listened to radio station in the Czech Republic (as of late 2014). These acquisitions have led critics to question Babis's political motives, amid accusations that he was amassing too much power, and that the media outlets he controls publish sympathetic coverage of him.
caption: Headquarters of Agrofert in Chodov, Prague.
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