AELMHULT, SWEDEN: Fresh snow is seen, 01 December 2004 outside the first Ikea store in Aelmhult that was inagurated in 1958. As a privately held company Ikea manages to avoid publishing any financial results beyond its turnover, which it said was 12.8 billion euros, or 17.1 billion dollars last year, and can thus avoid much negative coverage of its earnings or business practices. Instead the company, which earlier this year was valued by Swedish financial magazine Veckans Affaerer at 400 billion kronor (60.3 billion dollars, 45 billion euros), has focused on getting the media to talk about its products and to tell the feel-good story of its founder Ingvar Kamprad's beginnings as a match salesman. AFP PHOTO/SVEN NACKSTRAND (Photo credit should read SVEN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty Images)
