Jan Antonín Baťa
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Jan Antonín Baťa (March 7, 1898 – August 23, 1965) (also known as Jan Antonin Bata or Jan Bata, called The King of Shoes) was a Czech shoe manufacturer from Uherské Hradiště (southeastern Moravia), brother of Tomáš Baťa and together with their sister partner of the firm.
After his brother's death (1932) he led the Baťa company (in 1931 it has been transferred into joint stock company – Baťa a.s.) based in Zlín, former Czechoslovakia.
Under Jan the Baťa business expanded further – into shoe machinery, tires, textiles, chemicals, mines, canals, a railway, film studios, manufacture of airplanes, department stores.
When Jan became director, the Baťa organization employed 16,560 people, maintained 1,645 shops and 25 enterprises. Most of it in Czech lands (15,770 employees, 1,500 shops, 25 enterprises) and Slovakia (2 enterprises, 250 employees). The international businesses of the Baťa company consisted of 790 employees, 132 shops and 20 international enterprises.
During his management the Czech part of the business more than doubled its size to 38,000 employees, 2,200 shops, and 70 enterprises. In Slovakia, he grew the business from 250 employees to 12,340 and 8 enterprises.
Before WWII Jan and his family fled the nazis for the US and finally settled in Brazil, where he founded there several towns, including: Bataiporã, Bataguassu, Batatuba, Anaurilândia and Mariaopolis.
Up to his death, Jan expanded the organization more than sixfolds of its original size throughout Czechoslovakia and the world. From 1932 to 1942, he grew the Bata organization to 105,770 employees.
The Baťaviles were new cities, new industrial communities, based and developed on the "ideal city" model. Land purchases included in the Czechia (Moravia, Bohemia, Czech Silesia) and Slovakia; then over a dozen countries including England, France, Belgium, Holland, Poland, Yugoslavia, USA, India and Brazil.
