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
Champion (supermarket) Champion (supermarket) Champion was a supermarket chain that operated in France and owned by the international retailer Carrefour. There were also Champion supermarkets in Belgium, Spain, Poland, Greece, Turkey and Argentina. In 1993, Champion became the main sponsor of the Polka Dot Jersey in the Tour de France until 2008. From 2009, Carrefour took over the sponsorship. In 1999, Champion is taken over by the Carrefour Group after the fusion of Promodès and Champion grows by absorbing the Stoc chain. In 2006, Carrefour closed most Brazilian Champion stores and rebranded the remainder to the Carrefour Bairro. Also, all Spanish and