Sir Michael Smurfit, KBE (born 7 August 1936), is an Irish businessman. In the 2010 Irish Independent Rich List, he was listed at 25th, with a €368 million personal fortune.

Early life

Smurfit, who was born in St Helens, England, was educated at Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare, Ireland. He left school aged 16 and joined his father's company, Jefferson Smurfit & Sons Ltd, in 1955. In 1967, he was appointed joint managing director and was made deputy chairman in 1969. He was appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Jefferson Smurfit Group in 1977, a position he held until his retirement as CEO in November 2002.

Business success

During his tenure at the helm of the Jefferson Smurfit Group, Smurfit led the early expansion of the Group in both Ireland and the United Kingdom. He followed this with a series of acquisitions in the U.S., Latin America and Continental Europe, creating in the process Ireland’s first international company and a global leader in paper-based packaging. As chairman, Smurfit has recently overseen the merger of the Smurfit Group with Kappa Packaging BV to form the Smurfit Kappa Group, employing 42,000 employees in 33 countries on 5 continents. The group had sales of €6 billion in 2009. He currently owns 4.9% of Smurfit Kappa. He is also a director of Ballymore International, a property development and investment group, and has investments in other small companies.