Rene Benko

About Me

Rene Benko is the founder of Signa Holding, once one of Europe's largest real estate and retail firms until a 2023 credit crunch wiped much of Signa's equity. Benko fell from the billionaire ranking in December 2023 based on the net asset values for Signa Prime, Signa Development and Signa Holding, and the value of his known personal assets. As a high schooler, Benko worked as a local real estate developer's assistant and racked up so many absences from school that he couldn't graduate. At age 22, he founded the company that grew to become Signa; it now owns buildings in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. In 2018, Benko jumped into the media industry, picking up stakes in Austria's two largest newspapers, Kronen Zeitung and Kurier. In 2019, Signa bought a stake in the Chrysler building in Manhattan, together with New York property developer RFR.