Michael Bambang Hartono, tobacco tycoon and Indonesia’s richest man, dies at 86
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s richest man, Michael Bambang Hartono, who helped turn the Djarum cigarette company into one of the country’s largest business empires and later became a controlling shareholder of Bank Central Asia, Indonesia’s biggest private lender, died Thursday. He was 86.
Hartono died at a hospital in Singapore on Thursday afternoon, the Djarum Group said in a statement.
“With deep sorrow, the extended family of PT Djarum announces the passing of one of our company’s leaders, Michael Bambang Hartono,” the statement said. “We extend our gratitude for his dedication and service.”
The family has not revealed the cause of his death. He had previously acknowledged suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and a heart attack.
Hartono and his brother Robert Budi Hartono grew their inherited family business into a conglomerate based in Central Java’s Kudus regency, operating in banking, palm oil plantations, properties, electronics, telecommunications, and an e-commerce platform.
Their flagship company PT Djarum produced dozens of domestic and international brands, primarily kretek, or clove cigarettes, including Djarum Black, Djarum Super and L.A. Lights. The brothers also are the biggest shareholders in Bank Central Asia, Indonesia’s largest bank, which had revenue of 57.5 trillion rupiah ($3.43 billion) last year.
Their net worth was more than $43.8 billion, making the Hartono brothers the wealthiest in Indonesia. Michael Hartono had about $25.1 billion in December 2024, making him the 76th richest person in the world, according to Forbes.
In 2004, they won the right to redevelop Hotel Indonesia, a historic site in the heart of Jakarta. They transformed the property into a shopping mall, office, luxury hotel and apartment complex called Grand Indonesia.
Through its parent company, PT Dwimuria Investama Andalan, better known as the Djarum Group, the company has diversified into non‑tobacco businesses, including banking, technology and food.
Djarum also owns PB Djarum, one of Indonesia’s most prominent badminton clubs, whose players have won numerous world championships for Indonesia, and the Italian football club Como. The company was a major sponsor of Indonesia’s top soccer league from 2005 to 2011.
Hartono was also a champion bridge player and the president of the South East Asia Bridge Federation. He received an award from the World Bridge Federation in 2017 for his efforts in making bridge a category in the Asian Games.
He represented Indonesia at the 2018 Asian Games in bridge, winning a bronze medal with his team, making him the oldest Indonesian Asian Games medal winner.
When he and other athletes were honored at the presidential palace for Indonesia’s performance at the Games that year, Hartono received a reward of about $16,700, which he donated to the development of his beloved card game.
Born Oct. 2, 1939, Hartono watched his father roll tobacco with a native clove spice to make the cigarettes Indonesians call “kretek” for the crackling sound made by the burning scented spice. The brothers took over the business upon their father’s death in 1963, worked on developing new blends and began exporting in 1972 to many countries, including the U.S.
They created their first machine-made kretek, the Djarum Filter, in 1976, and introduced the machine-rolled Djarum Super, in 1981.
It is one of the most popular brands in Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous nation, where more than 64 million adults smoke daily.
Djarum’s clove products are now marketed as “filtered cigars” and are wrapped in tobacco leaf instead of black paper since the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Act banned most flavored cigarettes in the U.S.
Today, about 60,000 workers at their factories manually roll Djarum’s cigarettes, which are sold mostly to lower-income earners.
Hartono is survived by his wife and a son.