A White Snowstorm: The Life and Legacy of Siglinde “Schnee” Weiss
The Logo of Weiss Industries
Siglinde “Schnee” Weiss is widely considered one of the most successful business leaders of the late-20th century as she was the head of Weiss Industries from the mid-1950s until her death in 2003. She helped turn Weiss Industries into one of the major companies of the world during her long tenure as head of Weiss Industries.
Image of Siglinde ”Schnee” Weiss
Siglinde “Schnee” Weiss was born on March 25, 1930 in Mainz, Germania to Jacques Weiss, head of Weiss Industries and one of the richest people in the Kingdom of Germania from his innovative car-making methods before moving on to other methods. While she was born to one of the wealthiest people in the Kingdom of Germania, her childhood was far from idyllic as her father was hard on her. During the War of the Danube, Weiss Industries thrived due to lucrative contracts Jacques Weiss had with the German government, which were helped by how Jacques Weiss had donated and supported Augustina Sternberg’s campaign for the Centralist Party in the 1930s, making him a close confidant of Augustina Sternberg.
In 1948, Siglinde “Schnee” Weiss enrolled in Beacon Academy, which was located in Hamburg, Germania, and widely considered to be amongst the best universities in the world, where she met her life-long friend (and future Chancellor of China from 1994 to 2002) Yang Xiao Long and she helped develop Yang Xiao Long’s Yangist ideology. At Beacon, she developed a reputation as fairly serious about her work and calm as well. During her years at Beacon, she “warmed up” to her friends, who provided her a refuge from the hard expectations of her father.
When she graduated from Beacon Academy in 1952, Siglinde “Schnee” Weiss was happier than at any other point earlier in her life due to how she had made many friends at Beacon. In 1955, Jacques Schnee died from a heart attack brought on by the strain of working too hard, leaving his 25-year old daughter as head of Weiss Industries and one of the richest people on the world, with a net worth of 2.1 billion thalers (in 2005 thalers).
During the Great Asian War, Siglinde “Schnee” Weiss made a huge profit from the Great Asian War with Weiss Industry factories being where the workhorse of the German landship force, the “August Schnee”, during the Great Asian War were manufactured as it had been designed by Weiss Industries. In addition, many of the trucks and other AFVs used by the German military (and later, the various militaries of the EDC) in the Great Asian War were produced in factories bearing the snowflake symbol of Weiss Industries. It was also during this time that Weiss Industries started diversifying into the legendary conglomerate it is today as it acquired interests in aviation, purchasing Bayern in 1958, and the nascent field of electronics.
The August Schnee, the workhorse of the German Landship Force during the Great Asian War.
In addition to producing many of the weapons which helped win the Great Asian War for the United States, Siglinde “Schnee” Weiss arguably helped win the war with her innovations in the production systems in Weiss Industries factories, which increased efficiency by replacing men which had been conscripted with women and other such innovations. She gained a reputation as an organizational genius during this period as Weiss Industries became a massive industrial giant during this time. Her reforms in business organization and how production was to be organized would to some degree or another be adopted by the various major companies which helped in the war effort in both Germania and in other countries.
By the end of the Great Asian War, Weiss Industries was stronger than ever before with assets in various fields like construction, carmaking, shipbuilding, the nascent electronics industry, aerospace, retail, and so forth.
In personal affairs, Siglinde Weiss had fallen in love with Sascha Plessner with the two marrying in 1957 and having three children. She had two daughters, Isabelle and Jacqueline, who were born in 1959 and 1963 respectively, and Gunther, born in 1961.
After the Great Asian War, Weiss Industries was amongst the first companies to take advantage of the collapse of the Unified Indian State and the subsequent occupation of India as Siglinde “Schnee” Weiss’s company heavily invested in the subcontinent, with many factories being set up by Weiss Industries there. In addition, Siglinde “Schnee”Weiss heavily invested in the nascent computer industry as well with Weiss Industries developing one of the first video game consoles in 1973. It was The Spark and it would be far more successful than anyone in Weiss Industries had expected as it sold about 40 million copies.
The Spark, Weiss Industries’ first console
In addition to this, Weiss Industries was also a major player in the automobile industry with Weiss cars being amongst the most popular in the world during the 1960s and 70s. Two iconic cars of the 1960s and 1970s would be the Aurora and the Scorpion, which were produced by Weiss Industries but were quite different as the Aurora was a small and practical car while the Scorpion was a fast sports car.
The Aurora and the Scorpion, two iconic cars of Weiss Industries in the 60s and 70s
In addition to this, Weiss Industries would be heavily invested in motorsport with Weiss Industries running a team in the International Championship of Motorsport starting in 1961 with their prescence in the ICM continuing to the present-day. One of the most iconic Weiss racecars would be the Weiss W-18, which dominated the 1980 season with its revolutionary combination of turbo engines and ground effects. With their combination of vast manufacturer wealth and in-house engine, the Weiss Racing Team has been a prominent force in the ICM ever since it restarted after the Great Asian War.
An image of the Weiss W-18 during the 1980 season
In the field of aerospace, Weiss Industries, or more accurately, it’s Bayern subsidiary, would be a pioneer in jetliner technology with Bayern producing the Bayern 500 in 1969. The Bayern 500 would be followed by the Bayern 525, the world’s biggest airliner until 2003 as well.
The Bayern 500 airliner
Overall, the 1960s and 1970s saw Weiss Industries go from strength to strength in the aftermath of the Great Asian War with Siglinde “Schnee” Weiss being considering the richest person in the world for a time in the 1970s. However, the 1980s would see some setbacks for the massive conglomorate which was Weiss Industries.
In the 1980s, Weiss Industries would have to cope with the Financial Crash of 1982, triggered by the crash of the Ningbo Stock Exchange. It would bring down many companies and even some of the massive industrial conglomorates would face trouble from the crash. Siglinde “Schnee” Weiss would have to drastically reorganize Weiss Industries in the aftermath of this crash due to how it was affected by the crash. In addition to this, the German government of Harry Kellner was dedicated to breaking the power of certain massive companies. This would lead to various legal battles between the government and Weiss Industries for most of the decade. However, Weiss Industries would narrowly survive said setbacks and continue to thrive until the 1990s.
Not all was well with Siglinde “Schnee” Weiss’ personal life as well as her only son would die in a hang glider accident in 1986 and her husband would die a year later from lung cancer brought on by smoking too many cigarettes. After the death of her son, Siglinde “Schnee” Weiss would groom her two daughters to succeed her with Isabelle placed in charge of Weiss Electronics and Jacqueline placed in charge of Weiss Automobile.
Isabelle and Jacqueline Plessner-Weiss
In the 1990s, Siglinde “Schnee” Weiss and her company would recover from the losses of the 1980s and rebound to become one of the major companies of the Information Age. A major innovation that Weiss Industries would have during this period was their entry into the mobile phone market. They would also be well-known for their development of memory chips and its general advances in electronics with Weiss Industries being a major player in the television scene with innovations like HD TV and flat-screen TV being major innovations by Weiss Industries. In addition, Weiss Technology would produce some of the best video games and consoles in the world with a sub-segment of Weiss Technology being dedicated to grand strategy games
A cellphone from Weiss Industries during the mid/late-1990s
All of this would result in Siglinde “Schnee” Weiss having a net worth of 90 billion thalers by 2000, making her the 2nd richest person in the world at that time. On her 70th birthday, Siglinde “Schnee” Weiss formally retired from Weiss Industries, tranfering the position of Chairwoman of the Company to her older daughter Isabelle and the post of CEO to her younger daughter Isabelle. In addition, she promoted her grandchildren to prominent posts in subsidiary companies of Weiss Industries with Isabelle’s daughter Sofia becoming head of Weiss Automobiles. Isabelle’s son Stefan was named head of Weiss Construction while Isabelle’s younger daughter Anne was named head of Weiss Shipping. As for Jacqueline’s children, Andrea was named head of Bayern Aerospace while Ronald was named head of Weiss Technology and Philip named head of Weiss EntertainMedia
Siglinde “Schnee” Weiss would die at the age of 73 in her sleep on October 5, 2003. In her will, she would give Isabelle 2/3rds of her wealth and Jacqueline 1/3rds of her wealth with said will detailing precisely what of Siglinde’s personal assets would go to them. This division of wealth made Isabelle the 6th wealthiest person in the world while Jacqueline became the 15th wealthiest person in the world.
After Siglinde “Schnee” Weiss retired and died, her company would continue with it’s reputation of innovation with DB being it’s main competitor in the field of technology. While Weiss Industries might lead in the fields of smartphones (which they invented in 1999) and consoles, DB would master PCs with the dominant operating system for computers being a DB design along with one of the dominant Internetwork browsing system. However, Weiss Industries would be more diversified with assets in various fields
Ultimately, Siglinde “Schnee” Weiss would be amongst the most prominent business leaders of the 20th century with her company being very prominent in the development of modern Germania and the world. Her legacy is in the technology she helped develop and in the company she turned into a powerhouse.