Janni Spies

Janni Spies (née Brodersen, born 19 September 1962) is a Danish businesswoman, multimillionaire, and former owner of the Scandinavian travelling empire Spies Rejser [da] including the charter airline Conair of Scandinavia, companies she inherited from her first husband Simon Spies. Formerly one of Denmark's five richest and the 10th wealthiest woman in Europe,^[1][2] Spies today is chairwoman for Simon Spies Fonden (The Simon Spies Foundation).

Janni Spies
Born	Janni Isager Brodersen (1962-09-19) 19 September 1962 (age 61) Herlev, Denmark
Nationality	Danish
Other names	Janni Spies-Kjær, Janni Kjær
Known for	Spies Rejser [da]
Spouses	Simon Spies (1983–1984, his death) Christian Kjær [da] (1988–2008, divorced)
Children	2

Biography

Spies was born Janni Isager Brodersen on 19 September 1962 to Yvonne Brodersen (1929–2007)^[3][4] and Werner Heinrich Isager (1922–2011)^[5][6] in the Copenhagen suburb Herlev. Her mother was a seamstress and homemaker, and her father was a telephone technician.^[7] When in tenth grade, Janni at age 16 dropped out of school and started working as a messenger girl at the travelling agency Spies Rejser [da].^[8][9] She caught the attention of the company owner, Simon Spies, and the then 20-year-old Janni married the 61-year-old Simon Spies on 11 May 1983 in Holmen Church in central Copenhagen.^[10][11] To their wedding 3.000 guests were invited.^[12][13] Simon Spies died less than a year later on 16 April 1984,^[14][15] and bequeathed the majority of his estate to his wife, making her one of Europe's richest women.^[16]

Spies became chairwoman of the board upon her husband's death, and in 1989 acquired the travelling agency Tjæreborg Rejser [da].^[17] Spies sold the entire company in 1996 to what is now Sunclass Airlines.^[18]

She has later been accused of having destroyed her inheritance by bringing her brother, a former toolmaker, Leif Brodersen on the board together with a friend of his, the former trade union economist Steffen Møller. Her board now counseled her to purchase three Airbus A300 in 1987 and in 1991 another six brand new and very expensive Airbus A320. As the Airbus A300 were very difficult to sell, the passengers became fewer due to the Gulf War the entire Spies company ended up in severe financial difficulties. According to the General Manager at the time, Knud Heinesen, had this never happened if Janni had listened to him instead, and merged or cooperated with Copenhagen-based Sterling Airways instead.^[19] Also her second husband, the lawyer and politician Christian Kjær agreed. And as he took over as chairman of the board, (with Janni as vice chairwoman only) Leif Brodersen left the Spies company.^[20][21] But the financial problems didn't end there, and in 1993 had several banks to add new capital to the bankruptcy threatened travelling agency. And in 1996 was Spies Rejser sold to the British travel company Airtours while Conair merged with Scanair into Premiair, changing the name to Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia, which today is Sunclass Airlines A/S.^[22][23]

Spies is chairwoman for Simon Spies Fonden (The Simon Spies Foundation) that supports science, business, arts, and sport, and typically donates some 2-3 million DKK every year.^{[24][25][26][27][28]}

In 2007, Spies was made a Dame of the Order of the Dannebrog.^[29]

Private life

From 1985 to 1987, Spies dated and was engaged to Swedish actor and director Gunnar Hellström (1928–2001).^{[30][31][32][33]} She dated estate agent Jan Fog [da] for a short while,^[34][35] before marrying Christian Kjær [da] in 1988.^[36][37] The marriage produced two children but ended in divorce in 2008,^[38] followed by bitter court cases.^{[39][40][41][42][43]}

References

1. "Europe's Richest Women Are Queens, Commoners". Toledo Blade. Toledo, Ohio. 1990-02-04. Retrieved 2015-07-11.
2. Niels C. Scanborg (23 November 2008). "Formuen er skrumpet". www.bt.dk.
3. Rud Kofoed (25 December 2010). "Christian foragtede Jannis familie". ekstrabladet.dk.
4. "Jannis mor er død". livsstil.tv2.dk. 14 March 2007.
5. "afdøde.dk - Werner Heinrich Isager - Hellerup - født 27.1.1922 - død 24.12.2011". afdøde.dk.
6. Pernille Christensen (4 January 2012). "Janni Kjær har mistet sin far". ekstrabladet.dk.
7. Ove Holger Krak (2009). Kraks Blaa Bog (in Danish). Krak. p. 690. ISBN 9788712044383.
8. Andreas Fugl Thøgersen (26 October 2012). Simon Spies: Solkongens liv og tid (in Danish). JP/Politikens Forlag. pp. 147–. ISBN 978-87-400-0615-5.
9. "Janni Spies: Det var ikke studenterhuen, der trykkede". jyllands-posten.dk.
10. Sanne Rosbøg (13 September 2012). "Janni Spies: - Sådan scorede Simon mig". ekstrabladet.dk.
11. "Janni Spies opgiver kamp mod bryllups-dokumentar". Billed Bladet. 7 May 2013.
12. Erlendsson, Kirsten (May 8, 2013). "Nu kommer bryllups-filmen, Janni ikke ville have du skulle se". www.bt.dk.
13. "Om Spies - Danmarks førende rejsearrangør | Spies". Spies.dk. Retrieved 2019-12-01.
14. Camilla Cornelius (16 April 2009). "Spies bollede og var glad". ekstrabladet.dk.
15. "30 år efter Simon Spies' død: Her er hans bedste citater". livsstil.tv2.dk. 16 April 2014.
16. "Janni Spies Profits By Her Eccentric Husband's Death". The Daily Reporter (Spencer). Spencer, Iowa. 1984-04-18. Retrieved 2015-07-11.
17. "Skole - DR". dr.dk.
18. John Lindskog (6 September 2013). Simon (in Danish). ArtPeople. pp. 130–. ISBN 978-87-7137-451-3.
19. JENSEN, CHARLOTTE WENDT (April 19, 2003). "Opskrift på en dårlig forretning". www.bt.dk.
20. . Archived from the original on 2015-07-13. Retrieved 2015-07-12.
21. "Janni - en lycklig singel med lyxlivet bakom sig". www.expressen.se.
22. af Maria Joo Kim Jensen / [e-mail] (9 April 2013). "Janni: Mange ting er gået op for mig - TV 2" (in Danish). Nyhederne.tv2.dk. Retrieved 2019-12-01.
23. "Spies Rejser | Gyldendal - Den Store Danske". Den Store Danske. Denstoredanske.dk. 2014-08-13. Retrieved 2019-12-01.
24. "Simon Spies Fonden - Gyldendal - Den Store Danske". denstoredanske.dk.
25. "Anden får penge af Janni Kjær". Billed Bladet. 29 April 2008.
26. "Simon Spies Fonden giver penge til Lolland - TV ØST". tveast.dk.
27. "Spejdere modtager en million fra Spies Fonden". www.b.dk. 19 June 2000.
28. "74 til reception i eftermiddag på Dannebrog". fyens.dk. 4 September 2009.
29. "Janni takkede for ridderkorset". tvtid.tv2.dk. 14 January 2008.
30. "Sagan Spies är över i Sverige". Aftonbladet.
31. "Askungen som blev Danmarks rikaste kvinna". Hemmets Journal.
32. "Gunnar Hellström er død". www.b.dk. 28 November 2001.
33. "Janni - en lycklig singel med lyxlivet bakom sig". Expressen.
34. Karina Svensgaard (17 November 2011). "Jan Fog var kæreste med Janni Spies". www.bt.dk.
35. Maiken Kolby (28 October 2013). "Jan Fog gør som Simon Spies". ekstrabladet.dk.
36. Rud Kofoed (15 November 2008). "Derfor skal Janni og Christian skilles". ekstrabladet.dk.
37. "Christian Kjær: Straarup kostede mig toppost hos FLSmidth & Co". www.business.dk. 23 December 2009.
38. "Janni Kjær skal skilles". Billed Bladet. 14 November 2008.
39. "Janni Spies efter retssagen: Jeg er selvfølgelig glad, men..." Billed Bladet. 12 June 2013.
40. "Christian Kjær skal betale 35 millioner kroner til Janni Spies". politiken.dk.
41. Steffen M. Skjærlund (13 August 2013). "Valgte at fokusere på retssag: Janni Spies skubbede kræften til side". www.bt.dk.
42. "domstol.dk - Dom i sagen Janni Spies mod Christian Kjær". domstol.dk.
43. Louise Damløv (11 June 2013). "Advokat: Dom i Janni Spies-sag har betydning for mange danskere". DR.