Check this out, based on an article from The Economist...

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/14675


Basically, the guy who founded IKEA is arguably the world's richest man, or at least ranked #7 by conservative estimates ($31 billion). Nobody knows because of how convoluted the company is set up... His controlling interest was given to a Dutch charity who operates IKEA from a for-profit holding company. This way they can avoid paying taxes. The IKEA trademark & concept are owned by a separate private interest, presumably the founder, who still earns hundreds of millions. The "charity" is supposedly for the advancement of technology, but gives a tiny fraction of its earnings to that field. In 2004 IKEA saw a 1.4 billion euro profot, yet only gives 1.7 million to Sweden's Lund Institute of Technology per year.

Smart business? sure... Unethical? you betcha.

I'm not sure I want to support a company like that anymore...