Once the world's third largest retailer, the Metro group was founded in 1964 by the recently deceased billionaire Otto Beisheim who formed a partnership with the Schmidt-Ruthenbeck family and the Haniel family. Today, the Metro Group is said to have stores in twenty-five European countries, five Asian countries and one in Africa. However, neither of the Schmidt-Ruthenbeck brothers is involved in the management of the group and they only stand as shareholders. Thus, they saw a $100 million decrease in their fortune from a year ago as Metro shares have dropped in the last twelve months because of Europe's economic weakness. In addition to their share in the Metro group, the two brothers also possess a chain of 11 luxury hotels and spas called Travel Charm with operations in Germany, Austria and Italy. Business aside, they fund the Mercator Foundation, which supports projects in climate change and arts education. The foundation, which has a current endowment of $145 million, has financed almost 600 projects with more than $200 million to date.
