{{Short description|Italian-born Brazilian businessman}} {{Multiple issues| {{more citations needed|date=July 2012}} {{expand Italian|topic=bio|date=July 2012|Francesco Matarazzo }} {{expand Portuguese|topic=bio|date=July 2012|Francesco Matarazzo}} }} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | honorific_suffix = | name = Count Matarazzo | image = Francesco Matarazzo.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Francesco Matarazzo | birth_name = Francesco Antonio Maria Matarazzo | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1854|3|9|}} | birth_place = Castellabate, Province of Salerno, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1937|12|10|1854|3|9}} | death_place = São Paulo, State of São Paulo, Brazil | body_discovered = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | citizenship = | other_names = | known_for = | occupation = Businessman | spouse = Filomena Sansivieri | children = Giuseppe Matarazzo <br> Andrea Matarazzo <br> Ermelino Matarazzo <br> Teresa Comenale <br> Mariangela Comide <br> Attilio Matarazzo <br> Carmela Campostano <br> Lydia Pignatari <br> Olga, Princess Giovanni Alliata of Montereale <br> Ida Matarazzo <br> Claudia Ruspoli, Princess of Cerveteri <br> Francesco Matarazzo Jr. <br> Luigi Matarazzo | parents = Costabile Matarazzo <br> Mariangela Jovane }}
'''Francesco Antonio Maria Matarazzo, Count Matarazzo''' (9 March 1854 – 10 December 1937) was an Italian-born Brazilian industrialist and businessman who created a large business in South America, particularly in Brazil.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=2015-12-18 |title=Count Francesco Matarazzo: Royalty in Life and in Business |url=https://entrepreneurreview.wordpress.com/2015/12/18/count-francesco-matarazzo-royalty-in-life-and-in-business/ |access-date=2017-08-28 |website=The Entrepreneur Review}}</ref>
== Biography == He was born in Castellabate, Salerno, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the eldest of Doctor Costabile Matarazzo's nine sons, and Mariangela Jovane. At the age of 26, when Italian emigration to Brazil was widespread, he moved to the city of Sorocaba, São Paulo with his brothers, wife and children.<ref name=Treccani>{{cite web|title=MATARAZZO, Francesco|url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/francesco-matarazzo_(Dizionario-Biografico)/|work=TRECCANI, La cultura italiana|access-date=13 November 2015}}</ref> Initially he sold oranges and lottery tickets and shined shoes, reinvesting the proceeds in new businesses, eventually including plantations of tea, coffee, corn, rice, rubber and cotton.<ref name="Barnes & Barnes, 2001">{{cite book | title=Nazi Refugee Turned Gestapo Spy: The Life of Hans Wesemann, 1895–1971 | url=https://archive.org/details/nazirefugeeturne00barn | url-access=registration | publisher=Praeger Publishers |author1=Barnes, James J |author2=Barnes, Patience P | year=2001 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/nazirefugeeturne00barn/page/n9 11] | isbn=0-275-97124-4 }}</ref>
In 1890, he moved to the city of São Paulo and with his brothers, Giuseppe and Luigi, founded the company Matarazzo and Irmãos. He diversified its business and imported wheat flour from the United States. Giuseppe took part in the company with a lard factory in Porto Alegre and Luigi with a deposit-warehouse in São Paulo.
The following year the company was dissolved and replaced by Companhia Matarazzo S.A. with 43 minority shareholders. This corporation also controlled the factories in Sorocaba and Porto Alegre.
The outbreak of the Spanish-American War made it difficult to buy wheat flour and he obtained credit from the London and Brazilian Bank to build a mill in São Paulo. From there, his business expanded rapidly to a total of 365 factories{{citation needed|date=June 2012}} throughout Brazil. The conglomerate became the fourth largest in the country and 6% of the population depended on its factories in São Paulo. The business was renamed ''Indústrias Reunidas Francisco Matarazzo'' (IRFM) in 1911.
The Gestapo spy Hans Wesemann reported that:
{{blockquote|text=An entire fleet sails under his flag. Tens of thousands of workers toil in his factories. He makes cement, cuts down trees and turns the pulp into paper, on which he prints his newspapers. The public drinks his beer and watches films in his cinemas. He contrives to be both wealthy and popular and when the president of Brazil visits São Paulo, he calls upon Matarazzo first.<ref name="Barnes & Barnes, 2001"/>}}
In recognition of his financial and material assistance to Italy during the First World War King Victor Emmanuel III granted him the title of Count.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mariotto |first=Fábio Luiz |date=2005 |title=O maior empresário que o Brasil já teve |url=https://www.scielo.br/j/rae/a/GfLDRQMGTCFgL6gdT4MxxmD/?lang=pt |journal=Revista de Administração de Empresas |language=pt |volume=45 |pages=120–121 |doi=10.1590/S0034-75902005000300008 |issn=0034-7590|doi-access=free }}</ref>
Matarazzo died in 1937 after an attack of uremia. By the time of his death, his fortune was estimated at around 20 billion dollars (adjusting for recent values), making him Brazil's richest person.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Marçal |first=Gabriela |date=2022-12-10 |title=Após 85 anos, legado do conde Matarazzo ainda compõe cenários de SP |url=https://www.metropoles.com/sao-paulo/apos-85-anos-legado-do-conde-matarazzo-ainda-compoe-cenarios-de-sp |access-date=2026-02-08 |website=www.metropoles.com |language=pt-BR}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-05-25 |title=Prensa da origem da fortuna dos Matarazzo está em Sorocaba |url=https://g1.globo.com/sp/sorocaba-jundiai/noticia/2025/05/25/prensa-de-mais-de-130-anos-que-ajudou-a-dar-origem-a-fortuna-da-familia-matarazzo-e-preservada-em-sorocaba.ghtml |access-date=2026-02-08 |website=G1 |language=pt-BR}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=primapagina |title=Francesco Matarazzo foi de mascate a 5º mais rico do mundo |url=https://www.terra.com.br/economia/meu-negocio/francesco-matarazzo-foi-de-mascate-a-5-mais-rico-do-mundo,883785290daa7410VgnVCM10000098cceb0aRCRD.html |access-date=2026-02-08 |website=Terra |language=pt-BR}}</ref>
==See also== *Matarazzo Building *São Paulo Museum of Modern Art
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Matarazzo, Count Francesco}} Category:1854 births Category:1937 deaths Category:Counts in Italy Category:People from the Province of Salerno Category:Italian businesspeople Category:Italian emigrants to Brazil Category:Brazilian billionaires Category:Brazilian industrialists Category:20th-century Brazilian businesspeople