Billionaire Johann Rupert says tech titans have no empathy

South African billionaire Johann Rupert says the founders who run the world’s largest technology companies lack empathy, the quality he says he looks for when hiring at his luxury goods group, Compagnie Financière Richemont SA.

“In fact, I know all of them, and none of them has any empathy,” Rupert said at a recent event, referring to the tech industry’s biggest names. Rupert has chaired Richemont, the Swiss-listed owner of Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and Montblanc, since 2002.

The remarks fit a theme Rupert has pressed in recent weeks. In a keynote at the 31st Commonwealth Agriculture Conference in Cape Town in early November, he said empathy and curiosity were the values he had tried to teach his children and to build into the culture of his businesses.

Worries about AI

In the same speech, Rupert said artificial intelligence was adding to global uncertainty by disrupting skilled jobs. He questioned whether technological progress was being matched by concern for the people affected, and cited Microsoft Corp.’s reported offer of voluntary exits to about 60,000 employees as an example of how quickly work is changing.

He also warned about widening inequality and rising public debt, and said humanity’s capacity to destroy people and the planet was growing much faster than human development.

Rupert has warned for years that the gap between rich and poor could fuel social unrest.

South Africa’s richest man

Rupert, 76, controls Richemont through Compagnie Financière Rupert, which holds about half of the group’s voting rights. He also chairs Remgro Ltd., the investment group founded by his father, Anton Rupert, and owns the Leopard Creek golf estate on the edge of the Kruger National Park.

Forbes ranks him as South Africa’s richest person. This month Richemont has also been linked to a bid for De Beers, as Botswana moves to double its stake in the diamond producer and backs a consortium that Richemont is in talks to join.