Aldi may appear as if they were a single enterprise with certain store brands or when negotiating with contractor companies. The individual groups were originally owned and managed jointly by the brothers. Karl Albrecht, who died in 2014, retained ownership of Aldi Süd with a personal wealth of €17.2 billion that made him the richest man in Germany. The co-owners of Aldi Nord, Berthold and Theo Albrecht Jr. came close behind at €16 billion. Dieter Schwarz, owner of Lidl and Kaufland came in third, with a fortune of €11.5 billion. Aldi started to expand internationally in 1967, when Aldi Süd acquired
Dia (supermarket chain) Dia (supermarket chain) Distribuidora Internacional de Alimentación, S.A. (DIA) is a Spanish international hard-discount supermarket chain founded in 1979 which as of 2012 operates 6,914 stores internationally, making it Europe's third largest food sector franchiser. It has also owned Schlecker in Spain and Portugal since 2013. The company is headed by the Venezuelan-born Ana María Llopis. Dia is a discount supermarket chain which follows a policy of reduction of prices by means of minimizing operational costs. The furniture and decoration of the store are minimal. Costs are also reduced by limiting the choice of products to a narrow selection of