YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → The INSANE Truth About IKEA

The INSANE Truth About IKEA — Transcript

by MagnatesMedia · 5,778 words · 865 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:00when an innocent customer walks into
0:01Ikea what they're really walking into is
0:04a powerful psychological trap
0:06meticulously designed to make them
0:07overspend on furniture Ikea is one of
0:10the world's strangest but also most
0:12Innovative companies and every year they
0:14sell more than 50 billion dollars worth
0:17of everything from chairs to bookcases
0:19to Swedish meatballs today Ikea is the
0:22largest Furniture retailer in the world
0:24and oddly also among the world's 50
0:26largest restaurant chains but it all
0:29started with the dyslexic farm boy who
0:31started selling matches for pennies Ikea
0:34has a remarkably uplifting Story and
0:37there's tons of Genius business
0:38strategies along the way but there is
0:41also a darker side to Ikea and the man
0:43who started it Ikea's beloved founder
0:46has ties to the Nazi party and the
0:48company has been accused of avoiding
0:50billions in taxes and even using forced
0:52labor and quite suspiciously Ikea is
0:55essentially the fourth largest charity
0:57in the world this is the crazy true
1:00story of Ikea and it begins with a
1:03horrible
1:04[Music]
1:14[Music]
1:18tragedy in the 1890s Akim cprad a German
1:22from an aristocratic family fell in love
1:25with a lower class woman named
1:26franciscoca to akim's parents marrying a
1:29woman from a lower class class was
1:30unacceptable so he and Francisco moved
1:32to a tiny village in Sweden to begin a
1:34completely new life with his last penny
1:37Akim bought a 450 Acre Farm where he
1:40Francisco and their children could make
1:41a living by selling their harvests but
1:44apart from the land a modest house and a
1:46few dogs they had nothing else and so
1:48after a year in Sweden Akim was in
1:50desperate need of a loan unfortunately
1:53the local bank refused to give it to him
1:55and that's when his Dark Side
1:56overpowered him no one was there to
1:58witness this but the Story Goes that
2:00when Akin returned home he took his gun
2:02shot his dogs and then
2:06himself as for his 27-year-old widow
2:09francisa she hardly spoke any Swedish
2:11hadn't made any friends yet and she was
2:13pregnant at the time so she had three
2:15helpless children to feed and care for
2:17Francisco was completely alone in the
2:19world but she was a brave and energetic
2:21woman and despite her grief she took on
2:23the challenge of a lifetime and made a
2:25success of the farm her bills were paid
2:27and her children were wellfed and well
2:29educated
2:30after Decades of unrelenting
2:32perseverance francisa became a respected
2:34member of her community her three
2:36children were starting their own
2:37families and in 1926 her favorite
2:40grandson was born ingvar cprad the boy
2:43who would later go on to found Ikea and
2:45become one of the richest men in the
2:47world growing up ingvar's family didn't
2:50have much money but he still enjoyed his
2:52childhood on the farm Francisco showered
2:54him with love and he liked playing with
2:56the animals and catching fish in a
2:57nearby Pond and even at just 6 6 years
3:00old he was starting to show a neck for
3:02entrepreneurship with the help of his
3:03aunt Ina bought a case of 100 matchboxes
3:06for 88 Swedish cents his first customer
3:09was his grandmother francisa who bought
3:11a matchbox for 3 cents and by selling at
3:13that price to people in the local area
3:15Ina more than tripled his investment to
3:17three Swedish croner around 35 American
3:19cents at the time it wasn't much but
3:22this let a spark inside ingvar and he
3:24became obsessed with buying things as
3:26cheaply as he could and selling them for
3:27a profit as inar was growing up he sold
3:30Christmas cards candy wall hangings and
3:32lincol berries each time he'd then
3:34reinvest the money into more Goods to
3:36sell making more and more profit each
3:38time seeing his entrepreneurial attitude
3:40for buying and selling ingvar's father
3:42gave him a small loan to start a mini
3:44fishing business and by the time he was
3:4611 ingvar had made enough money to buy
3:48himself a racing bike and a typewriter
3:51for every new business ingvar's first
3:53customer was francisa and she always
3:55gave Ina the courage to make bigger
3:57moves like when he borrowed around 600
3:59owner so that he could import 500
4:01Parisian fountain pens and now that he
4:03was a natural salesman he made his
4:05biggest profit yet however Francisco's
4:08influence on Ina was not all positive
4:11you see Francisco came from a German
4:13State called Sudan land which after
4:14World War I became part of
4:16Czechoslovakia but Francisco was a
4:18German who did not feel identified
4:20nationally with Czechoslovakia so the
4:22happiest day of her life was actually
4:23when Nazi Germany and ex Czechoslovakia
4:26in 1938 from Francisco's point of view
4:29the Nazis were reuniting Germans with
4:30Germans so they were like saviors to her
4:33unfortunately Francisco was so
4:35passionate about the Nazis that her
4:37politics rubbed off on ingvar he was too
4:39young to form his own opinions and plus
4:41the horrifying realities about the Nazi
4:43regime hadn't come to light yet so
4:45ingvar was totally indoctrinated into
4:47the Nazi ideology by his family in his
4:49teen years he even recruited a few
4:51friends into the Swedish Nazi party and
4:54later on this would come back to haunt
4:56him it was also in his teen years that
4:58inar moved to a boarding school he often
5:00struggled with his classwork especially
5:02because he had dyslexia but whilst at
5:04school Ina was continuing his business
5:06by selling watches pens belts and
5:08wallets to his schoolmates this oneman
5:11operation was looking like a real
5:12business so Ina figured why not make it
5:15a real business as a graduation gift
5:18Ina's father gave him the money for the
5:19firm's registration fee and so in 1943
5:23the trading company Ikea was officially
5:25created ingvar was just 17 at the time
5:28and the business had no physical shop it
5:30was a simple mail order company buying
5:32cheap goods and reselling them at a
5:34higher price just like ingvar had done
5:36all through his childhood in fact this
5:38tiny shed near his home is where he kept
5:40packages that were to be picked up for
5:42delivery as for the name that was pretty
5:44simple too the I and K in IKEA stand for
5:47Ina camrad the E stands for Elm tude the
5:50name of the family farm and the a stands
5:52for auna rud the nearby Village so how
5:56exactly did Ikea go from this shed to a
5:58billion doll B business
6:03[Music]
6:11[Music]
6:17Empire in the first days of Ikea ingbar
6:20was as energetic as ever he imported all
6:22the products that had sold well from his
6:24youth like pens and watches and then
6:26upgraded the business by adding even
6:28more products I was doing okay but Ina's
6:31education still wasn't complete right
6:33after graduating he began studying
6:35business and commerce and his parents
6:37agreed to take over some of Ikea's
6:38workload for the time being in business
6:41school Ina was able to take his natural
6:43talent for entrepreneurship and fill in
6:44the gaps of things he didn't know yet
6:46for example ever since his childhood Ina
6:48had wondered why many products were so
6:50cheap to make but so expensive to buy he
6:53knew from experience that the
6:54manufacturing cost of a regular pen was
6:56less than 1 Swedish Cent but buying it
6:58from a grocery store cost 10 cents it
7:00wasn't that one particular grocery store
7:02was just charging a massive premium if
7:04that was the case other stores would
7:05just lower their prices and steal their
7:07customers Ina figured the problem was
7:09that most businesses focused all their
7:11efforts on efficient production and
7:13Manufacturing but very little effort was
7:15focused on distribution Ina realized
7:18Ikea's success rested on how efficiently
7:20their distribution was set up finding
7:22the most cost efficient way to get
7:23products from factories to customers
7:26after all Ikea was importing the same
7:28products as everyone else so the only
7:30way to get an advantage over the
7:31competition was simply to be a more
7:33efficient business this was tough at
7:35first all while running AIA from a
7:37distance with the help of his family
7:39inba studied business worked as a store
7:41clerk and even did military training so
7:43the business was anything but efficient
7:45and Ina worked extremely long hours day
7:47and night but after 5 years of this
7:50ingvar finally had the freedom to run
7:52Ikea fulltime and he wanted to go bigger
7:55so in 1948 he decided to add Furniture
7:58to his product line
8:00this was great timing as after World War
8:02II the Swedish government built lots of
8:04new affordable housing that all needed
8:05Furnishing demand for cheap furniture
8:08was high and so furniture sales soon
8:10overtook the other small items ingar was
8:12selling plus there were a handful of
8:14small furniture makers in the area so it
8:16was easy enough to buy it from them in
8:17bulk and then sell the individual pieces
8:19for a profit what wasn't easy for inar
8:22was keeping track of all the different
8:23items he was ordering you see because of
8:25ingvar's Dyslexia he couldn't keep track
8:27of all the different codes for the
8:29individual items so instead he decided
8:31to give them more memorable names for
8:33example bathroom items were named after
8:35Swedish bodies of water desks and chairs
8:38were given male Scandinavian names and
8:40children's products were given the names
8:41of Scandinavian mammals and birds when
8:44Ina sent out a broer advertising Ikea's
8:46new furniture offerings with these
8:48eye-catching names a lot of mail orders
8:50came in as Ikea expanded the family farm
8:53was cleared out in order to manage the
8:55workload and every member of the camrad
8:57family helped out however they could the
8:59family was a business and the business
9:01was a family before long inar had hired
9:04a staff of eight people and he greeted
9:06everyone with a hug and considered them
9:07his family as well Ikea's Fay into
9:10Furniture was a massive success and it
9:12was growing steadily but there was a
9:14massive problem on the horizon you see
9:16Ikea was a mail order business they
9:18would mail out brochures advertising
9:20their products and then customers could
9:22mail them back with an order the problem
9:24was that Ike was just one of hundreds of
9:26mail order retailers that also sold
9:27furniture and they all bought it from
9:29the same suppliers with so many sellers
9:31in a single Market Ikea and other
9:33businesses had virtually no way to stand
9:35out other than lowering their prices but
9:37this meant Ikea's profit margins were
9:39getting dangerously thin the only way to
9:41mitigate this was to cut costs but that
9:43meant the quality of the furniture
9:44suffered and mail order Furniture was
9:46getting a terrible reputation inar knew
9:49that if Ikea didn't evolve soon it's
9:51days were numbered but that's when he
9:53remembered what he learned back in
9:54business school if inbar could design a
9:56more cost-effective distribution
9:58pipeline than its competitive
9:59Ikea could cut costs without sacrificing
10:02quality this way they could lower their
10:03prices and still make a big profit to do
10:06this inar re imagined Ikea's entire
10:08business model first he bought a large
10:10rundown department store for around
10:12$1,600 it was a steal and after paying
10:15$75,000 for renovations Ina beautifully
10:18designed the store with Ikea's main
10:20Furniture offerings then Ina canel most
10:23of ia's product lines and sent out an
10:25advertising brochure announcing that
10:26they were now exclusively a furniture
10:28and domestic products business this
10:30would simplify the supply chain
10:32massively ingvar's new distribution
10:34strategy was now in motion Ikea would
10:36mail out catalogs just like they used to
10:38but customers would actually come to the
10:40store to buy a piece of furniture
10:42because of this Ikea no longer had to
10:43worry about shipping which reduced their
10:45distribution cost massively and thus let
10:47Ina achieve his initial goal maintain
10:49quality lower prices and still make a
10:51big profit no other Furniture business
10:54had combined mail order with a retail
10:55location so Ikea was pioneering a new
10:58and risky strateg
11:00but on opening day in 1953 inar saw a
11:02line of more than a thousand customers
11:04lined up outside Ikea he was actually
11:06worried that the Swedish buns he was
11:08giving out for free wouldn't be nearly
11:09enough for everyone or worse that the
11:11rundown building he bought would
11:13collapse under the weight of so many
11:14people thankfully though the building
11:16held and more buns were cooked just in
11:18time ingvar described that day as one
11:20long Rush of constant and joyous work
11:23and since Ikea's consistent quality and
11:24lower prices were irresistible to
11:26customers the following days didn't
11:28disappoint either the IKEA store became
11:30something of a local tourist attraction
11:32with people coming in from all over
11:33Sweden Ina even built a hotel with a
11:35pool right next to it it also helped
11:38that people had been skeptical of
11:39ordering low priced furniture from mail
11:41order catalogs so allowing people to
11:43come and see it themselves in store was
11:44hugely popular but by still sending out
11:47mail order catalogs Ikea could still
11:48reach customers in a very wide area and
11:51thus iners gamble was a big success but
11:54on a larger scale Ikea was still just
11:56one player in a massive industry and the
11:59biggest Furniture retailers saw Ikea's
12:01new methods as a threat ingvar didn't
12:04know it yet but Ikea had just made some
12:06powerful
12:15[Music]
12:21enemies in the mid 1950s Ikea was
12:24growing at record pace and to a large
12:26group of Swedish furniture dealers this
12:28was alarm
12:29all of Ikea's competitors still used the
12:31standard mail order model which meant
12:33they couldn't match Ikea's prices
12:35without becoming unprofitable because of
12:37this the National Association of
12:39furniture dealers tried everything they
12:41could to destroy Ikea before it outgrew
12:43them now at the time trade fairs were a
12:46crucial part of how Ikea and other
12:47furniture dealers got customers most of
12:50them just showed off brochures of their
12:51Furniture but Ina actually brought it
12:53with him and since his prices were
12:55unbeatable customers always flocked to
12:57Ikea's stands because of this the other
13:00furniture dealers tried to use their
13:01influence to disrupt Ikea in any way
13:04they could firstly they complained that
13:06trade fairs were just for showing items
13:08not selling them like Ikea did and so
13:10they managed to get Ikea banned from
13:12selling anything at the trade fairs but
13:14inar responded by creating subsidiary
13:16companies and selling furniture through
13:18them instead the furniture dealer's
13:20counter move was to ban all selling at
13:22trade fairs but Ina answered by showing
13:24off how much lower Ikea's prices were
13:26compared to theirs the furniture dealers
13:28then banned every exhibit from showing
13:30prices to which inar responded by
13:32setting up his own trade fairs in
13:34Sweden's largest cities it got to the
13:36point where the furniture dealers got
13:38Ikea and even Ina personally banned from
13:40attending or hosting any trade fairs but
13:43even then Ina still had them beat he
13:45snuck into a Trade Fair rolled up inside
13:47of a carpet and so despite every attempt
13:50to destroy Ikea the furniture dealers
13:52were unable to stop inar he was always
13:54too crafty for them they compared Ikea
13:57to a monster with seven heads every time
13:59they cut one off another one grew in its
14:01place and Ikea was now growing
14:03incredibly fast so before it could
14:05Eclipse them all the furniture dealers
14:07delivered one final and potentially
14:09deadly attack to Ikea in a letter to all
14:12Swedish Furniture suppliers the National
14:14Association of furniture dealers put it
14:16plain and simple if you sell to Ikea we
14:19will no longer buy from you in an
14:21instant Furniture suppliers began
14:22cutting ties with Ikea they could either
14:25sell to one small but growing company or
14:27to the entire industry and the choice
14:29was obvious for the vast majority of
14:31suppliers only a few Furniture suppliers
14:33remained loyal to Ikea but even they
14:35used fake addresses removed the logos
14:37from their vehicles and made secret
14:39deliveries in the middle of the night in
14:41order to avoid associating themselves
14:42publicly with Ikea this time the threat
14:45was real Ikea had a ton of customers
14:47waiting to buy furniture but no way to
14:49supply them and Ina had to act fast in
14:51order for Ikea to survive firstly he
14:54made sure to reward the few suppliers
14:56who were still helping him out whereas
14:58most furniture dealers took around 3 or
14:594 months to pay their suppliers Ina made
15:02sure they were paid within 10 days at
15:03most and treated like royalty secondly
15:06Ikea started making its own designs many
15:08furniture dealers refused to work with
15:10suppliers who sold them the same
15:11products they sold to Ikea but Ina
15:13realized if Ikea made some minor
15:15adjustments they could claim it was an
15:17entirely different product and win some
15:18suppliers back and finally Ina secured
15:21an emergency supply of wooden chairs to
15:23be made in Poland just a few years later
15:26Poland became one of Ikea's key
15:27suppliers because was completely Out Of
15:29Reach from Ikea's Swedish enemies back
15:31home thanks to all this Ikea was able to
15:34dodge a potentially devastating attack
15:36from its competition in ingvar's words
15:38the boycott only made Ikea stronger and
15:41now they had a stable Foundation of
15:43suppliers to rely on and Unique Designs
15:45unlike anything else on the market and
15:47all of this would lead to a very unusual
15:50breakthrough
15:51[Music]
15:58[Music]
16:05one day when Ina finished photographing
16:07one of Ikea's new tables as they were
16:09packing it back up one of his employees
16:11had difficulty fitting it into his car
16:13he noted that the table used up a lot of
16:15empty space so he suggested something
16:18that would change Ikea's course forever
16:21why not take off the legs shortly after
16:23they got their first prototype you could
16:26screw and unscrew the table's legs into
16:27position easily and and Ina instantly
16:29realized how beneficial this would be to
16:31Ikea selling items sold in pieces that
16:34are flattened to make transport easier
16:36or flat pack Furniture as they called it
16:38would be another turning point for Ikea
16:40because now they could take a piece of
16:41furniture apart Ikea's packaging became
16:44much more compact this meant the
16:45furniture could be stored and
16:47transported more efficiently and cheaply
16:49they spent less on packaging materials
16:51and there was much less chance of an
16:52item being damaged in transit in other
16:54words flat packing instantly cut the
16:56company's costs and made distribution
16:58faster fter and safer and remember prior
17:01to the 1950s you'd normally be waiting a
17:03while for your furniture to be made and
17:04delivered but now you could take it home
17:06with you the same day it was win-win
17:08plus all of this had another positive
17:11effect on Ikea's customers researchers
17:13discovered a cognitive bias which they
17:15called the Ikea effect where they
17:17realized consumers value products more
17:19highly if they've been partially
17:21involved in making them because many of
17:23Ikea's Furniture pieces now came in
17:25Parts customers actually had to build
17:26them at home and by physically putting
17:29the items together themselves they had a
17:30sense of Pride and ownership over the
17:32item which meant more of an emotional
17:34attachment to it and so they valued the
17:36item more highly for Ika this meant
17:38their customers had a higher level of
17:40loyalty to the brand and so finally
17:42after a decade of battling with their
17:43competitors stuck in their old ways Ikea
17:46had evolved beyond their influence Ina
17:48knew that Ikea was now perfectly
17:50positioned for Rapid expansion and his
17:52plans were more ambitious and Stranger
17:55than ever
17:57before before we get to to the next
17:59chapter it's time to answer a question I
18:01get a lot how do I make these videos
18:04well a big part of that is down to
18:05today's sponsor story blocks a curated
18:08stock library with everything you need
18:10to create high quality video all in one
18:12place I've been using story blocks to
18:14help make my videos for years now and it
18:16has over a million 4K and HD video clips
18:19templates songs sound effects images and
18:22more so for example say you're making a
18:24video about space you can literally just
18:26type space in their search bar and get
18:28countless great cinematic clips for your
18:30video you could then even change your
18:32search to music to find the perfect song
18:34to match honestly it's been such a
18:36timesaver for me and so if you're a
18:38content creator I highly recommend
18:40checking it out and unlike most other
18:42stock footage instead of paying for
18:43every single clip which is expensive you
18:46get unlimited downloads with a story
18:47block subscription so you can download
18:49whatever you want with no extra fees so
18:52to get started with unlimited stock
18:54media downloads at on price head to
18:56story blocks.com magnates click the link
18:59in the
19:06[Music]
19:11description after Ikea's success with
19:13their first store ingvar had decided to
19:15open a new store that was bigger and
19:17better in every way for the location
19:19ingvar chose Stockholm the capital of
19:21Sweden but instead of a spot in the
19:23Heart of the City he picked a location
19:25way outside basically in the countryside
19:28this way Ina got a massive discount on
19:29real estate so the IKEA store could be
19:32huge it was about the size of 8 and 1/2
19:34football fields and had three separate
19:36floors but if Ina was going to take on
19:38such a massive project he needed to
19:40perfect Ikea's concept and this is where
19:42he showed his true Brilliance inar
19:45designed the store in a way that
19:46exploited every aspect of his customer
19:49psychology it worked like this when a
19:51customer entered Ikea they took a slip
19:53of paper to write down a code for every
19:55item they were going to buy so they
19:56didn't have to carry anything around the
19:58shop despite its fast size the store had
20:00just one entrance and one exit which
20:02wasn't always the easiest to find people
20:05could wander around the different areas
20:06for a while but generally everything
20:08flowed in a single direction as
20:10customers were guided through the entire
20:11store in a one-way path it was almost
20:13like a bit of a maze with curves every
20:1550 ft to keep customers intrigued about
20:17what would be coming up next this also
20:20meant you were basically forced to look
20:21through all departments and see every
20:23item in the store before reaching the
20:25exit you don't just pop in and buy one
20:27thing you see everything they have to
20:29offer encouraging impulse buys for
20:31things you hadn't even planned to
20:32purchase with this in mind inar designed
20:35the layout in three main stages first
20:37was the showroom which was meant for
20:38bigger expensive things like kitchen and
20:40bedroom furniture then came the market
20:43line which was meant for smaller cheaper
20:44items like silverware and decorations
20:47and finally there was the warehouse
20:48where customers picked out the packages
20:50with the codes they wrote down and paid
20:51for them however whilst ingvar's design
20:54seems innocently logical on the surface
20:56there are three brilliant psychological
20:58tricks going on behind the scenes
21:00firstly every exhibit inside the store
21:02exploited something called the gruin
21:04effect which means a displays layout and
21:06lighting are designed to draw people in
21:08and make them take their time wandering
21:09around the more time customers spent
21:11inside Ikea the more likely it was that
21:13they made an Impulse decision to buy
21:14some piece of furniture in fact research
21:17suggests that the majority of purchases
21:18at Ikea are unplanned secondly since the
21:21store was so huge and it only flowed in
21:23One Direction it meant that customers
21:25better write down the code for the more
21:26expensive products at the beginning
21:27right away because otherwise they'd have
21:29to walk all the way to the end and start
21:31the entire maze again from scratch which
21:33could take hours and thirdly since more
21:35expensive items were at the beginning of
21:37the store by the time customers got to
21:38the cheaper items near the end the price
21:40of a new decoration seemed like a
21:42bargain compared to that of a massive
21:44dining table again this price anchoring
21:46leads to more impulse purchases as a
21:49result of all this Ikea became more of
21:51an experience than a typical shop you
21:53could spend hours there however inar did
21:55notice one problem in the mornings Ikea
21:58was usually full of customers but
22:00business always slowed down after
22:01lunchtime when customers went out for a
22:03meal but what if people didn't leave to
22:06get food then they could spend all day
22:08there inar figured that by opening a
22:10restaurant inside Ikea the food sales
22:12would not only generate extra money but
22:14people would stay at Ikea for more time
22:16and even better if the food was good
22:18people might come in just for a bite to
22:19eat and end up buying some furniture as
22:21well with these strategies in place Ikea
22:23was making more money than ever but Ina
22:26also had a stroke of good luck you see
22:28at the time Ikea was considered the
22:30cheapest Furniture business in Sweden
22:32but low prices can often lead people to
22:34thinking a product is of low quality as
22:36well but when an impartial Swedish
22:38design laboratory gave every item a
22:40quality test comparing Ikea products
22:42with more expensive competitors the
22:44results were astounding Ikea actually
22:46had superior quality across the board
22:48previously Ikea's quality had been
22:50stigmatized because of its lower prices
22:53but thanks to this report Ikea was now
22:55seen as both the financially sound and
22:57the more tasteful option because of this
22:59when Ikea's next new store opened in
23:011965 more than 18,000 people showed up
23:04on its first day ingvar's expansion plan
23:07was working better than he could have
23:08ever dreamed and Ikea was growing like
23:10never before by 1973 Ikea was making
23:13tens of millions every year and had over
23:15a thousand employees although oddly
23:17enough Ina still ran it like a small
23:19family business the main office was in
23:21an old barn on the Family Farm and yet
23:24they now had a successful formula they
23:26could replicate anywhere however Ina
23:29wanted Ikea to live forever long after
23:31he was gone and this would lead to a
23:33very controversial
23:35[Music]
23:43[Music]
23:48plan ingvar's dream was for his children
23:51to inherit the business but Sweden's
23:53inheritance taxes were extremely high so
23:55instead Ina hired an army of lawyers
23:57from all over over the world their
23:59mission was to make Ikea independent of
24:01any single country and protect it from
24:03any harmful Outsiders trying to take it
24:05over it took Ikea's lawyers more than S
24:08years of making shell companies
24:10foundations and trusts in every tax
24:12Haven in the world but in the end Ikea's
24:14corporate structure became an
24:15impenetrable and untaxable Labyrinth the
24:18original Ikea company became owned by a
24:20holding company whose profits are moved
24:22to a tax exempt nonprofit who later
24:24indirectly moves its money into the
24:26stitching Inka Foundation which which is
24:28based in the Netherlands completely
24:30apart from this is a trust which owns a
24:32Dutch holding company which owns another
24:33holding company in Luxembourg which owns
24:35Ikea's intellectual property if you're
24:37thinking all of this sounds very
24:39confusing you're right and that's just a
24:41grossly oversimplified version the point
24:43is that Ikea's complicated structure has
24:45led to controversy with many accusing
24:47the company of reorganizing itself in
24:49order to avoid paying taxes today 50
24:52years after this restructuring took
24:54place the foundation ingvar created is
24:56technically the fourth largest charity
24:57in the world
24:59but either way in the time it took Ikea
25:01to become a tax exempt Dutch charity
25:03ingvar was busy replicating the success
25:05in his first STS across the rest of the
25:07world and perfecting the formula even
25:09more each time by the end of the 70s
25:12there were more than 20 new Ikea stores
25:13in countries like Canada Switzerland and
25:15Australia and Ina's plans for the 80s
25:18were even more ambitious however Ina
25:21wasn't prepared for what was coming next
25:23the dark shadow of his past was catching
25:25up to him and it would launch him into
25:27the biggest control Ries of his
25:30life before we get to the next chapter I
25:32want to help you save time and money
25:34with today's video sponsor shipstation
25:37ship station integrates everywhere you
25:38sell online including Amazon Etsy eBay
25:41Shopify and more ship station then makes
25:44it easy to automate shipping tasks and
25:46manage your business's orders in one
25:48simple dashboard you can print shipping
25:50labels compare rates organize every
25:52shipment and automate delivery
25:54notifications and when you use ship
25:56station you get discounts up to8 89% of
25:59USPS and UPS rates so as your business
26:02grows you could be saving thousands on
26:04shipping costs ship station has been a
26:06big supporter of magnetes media for a
26:08while now and I know a lot of you guys
26:09have already started using it and been
26:11saving money on all your shipments
26:13however if you've been on the fence
26:14about joining now is the perfect time to
26:16check ship station out as you can get a
26:1830-day free trial if you use my link in
26:20the description no matter where you sell
26:23or how you ship make this year your most
26:25profitable one yet with ship station go
26:27to shipstation
26:28./n to sign up for your free 30-day
26:31trial today that's shipstation.com slm
26:40[Music]
26:45magnates during the 80s Ikea was growing
26:48at its fastest rate ever but Ina still
26:50saw everyone involved in the company as
26:52family he was famous for meeting
26:53employees with a big bear hug getting to
26:55know as many of them as he could and all
26:57around being loved by by everybody
26:59however not many people outside of Ikea
27:01personally knew inar he was just the
27:03owner of some giant swedish furniture
27:05company so when a journalist discovered
27:07that ingvar had been an avid Nazi
27:09Enthusiast in his youth his entire
27:11reputation was at stake in 1994 the
27:14journalist reached out to ingvar for
27:15comment to which ingvar wrote back
27:17saying he was willing to talk openly
27:19about everything after all Ina was
27:21indoctrinated into Nazi ideology through
27:23his grandmother but he was too young to
27:25think independently now that the
27:26terrible reality of the third right was
27:28public information he changed his views
27:30completely so inar thought that by being
27:32totally transparent about everything any
27:34controversy would go away once people
27:35heard his story however the journalist
27:37had come across two documents alleging
27:39that ingvar had attended a fascist
27:41meeting as late as 1958 at that point
27:44World War II had been over for a decade
27:46and Ina was 32 years old this was no
27:48longer a story about an innocent boy who
27:50had been indoctrinated by his family it
27:52was a story about a mature businessman
27:54who might just be an active Nazi and
27:56when the story broke out newspaper in
27:58all of Europe circulated the rumor Ika
28:00went into crisis mode and demanded
28:02answers from its founder ingbar wrote an
28:04open letter to everyone openly
28:06explaining the story of his
28:07indoctrination his involvement with the
28:09Swedish Nazi party expressing his
28:11regrets and begging for everyone's
28:13forgiveness as for the accusation that
28:15he was an active Nazi ingvar disproved
28:17it by saying that 1958 the year of the
28:19alleged meeting had been the year when
28:21Ikea's first store was being heavily
28:23renovated he was simply too busy with
28:25work to worry about politics in fact
28:27inar had not attended any such meeting
28:30and despite the news Fiasco this initial
28:32story caused Ina had done one thing
28:34correctly he was honest about everything
28:36and when people heard his version of the
28:37story the controversy died down at least
28:40that was until
28:421998 this time another news story broke
28:44out alleging that inba had financed the
28:46start of Ikea by borrowing Nazi money
28:49again another barrage of headlines
28:51rolled out in the newspapers but inar
28:53didn't really care about the claim that
28:54he had borrowed money from the Nazis he
28:56was Furious that anyone thought thought
28:58he'd borrowed money at all in his words
29:00they could have accused me of murder but
29:02not of borrowing money in the entire
29:04lifespan of Ikea Ina had never taken out
29:06alone so the claim was totally false
29:09this time though Ikea's employees didn't
29:11demand answers instead they offered
29:12their full support for Ina and he was so
29:14grateful that he broke down in tears
29:17however rumors of ingvar's involvement
29:19with the Nazis never completely went
29:21away for example throughout his life he
29:23had remained acquainted with a Swedish
29:25Nazi activist and Holocaust Den an Ina
29:27even invited him to his wedding and
29:29called him a great man it's also known
29:31that in the'80s some of Ikea's suppliers
29:33in East Germany were using forced labor
29:35and it's very likely that Ikea's
29:37Executives were aware of it and did
29:39nothing to intervene but either way
29:41despite the controversies surrounding
29:42inba's past Ikea was on its way to
29:45Conquering the world throughout the '90s
29:47Ikea built more than 70 new Mega stores
29:50and became one of the world's strongest
29:51Brands and in 2008 Ikea took the throne
29:54as the world's largest Furniture
29:56retailer Ikea's sucess uccess and the
29:58fact the company had remained private
30:00meant inar became one of the richest
30:01people in the world and yet he still
30:03maintained his Frugal lifestyle he lived
30:05in the same house drove the same old
30:07Volvo for 20 years and always flew
30:09economy Ina passed away at 91 years old
30:12in 2018 today Ikea has well over 450
30:16locations and so it's not surprising
30:18that some crazy stories have happened at
30:20Ikea stores there's a few troubling ones
30:23like when a 12-year-old boy ran away
30:24from home and got lost in an Ikea for 6
30:27days but there's also some heartwarming
30:29stories too like the couple who met for
30:31the first time at their local Ikea and
30:33decided to have their wedding there as
30:34well whatever you think of Ikea there's
30:36no denying it's one of the most
30:38fascinating companies around they've
30:40sparked several important retail
30:41innovations that other companies around
30:43the world now use and the story of
30:45ingbar's family goes to show what
30:47endless perseverance can achieve but if
30:49you want to hear the story of another
30:50Scandinavian company that makes you
30:52build what you buy you have to check out
30:54the messed up history of Lego just click
30:57the thumbnail on screen now and I'll see
30:58you there in a second cheers

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of The INSANE Truth About IKEA by MagnatesMedia, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 5,778 words across 865 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to choose a caption track available on the video.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, caption language selection, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.