Does Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairperson of the World Economic Forum, have a personal logo that bears similarities to the seal for the Central Intelligence Agency? No, that's not true: An image of Schwab standing at a podium that featured a coat of arms does not prove that he has a "logo." He was speaking at a university ceremony at a podium that included that university's coat of arms.
The claim was suggested in a post (archived here) published on Facebook on August 2, 2023. It included two side-by-side images: an image of Schwab speaking at a podium with an emblem on it and an image of the seal of the CIA. The post read:
Is there any connection between the C--I--A logo and Klaus Schwabs logo?
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook.com screenshot taken on Thu Aug 3 14:57:51 2023 UTC)
Schwab image
In the photo featured in the post making the claim, Schwab is pictured speaking at a ceremony at the Kaunas University of Technology in Lithuania. During the occasion, he was awarded the university's 45th honorary doctorate for "for spreading the knowledge on economy and innovative ideas, for fostering social entrepreneurship and support for young businesses, and for his contribution into developing the concept of the 4th industrial revolution." The same image of Schwab speaking at the podium can be found at the bottom of this page on the university's website. The coat of arms on the podium belongs to the university, not Schwab.
Lead Stories used Google Images to search for "Klaus Schwab logo," "Klaus Schwab seal" and "Klaus Schwab coat of arms'" and did not find any images suggesting that Schwab has a personal "logo."
Comparing the two logos
The element of the university coat of arms that the post making the claim says resembles the CIA seal is actually a "symbol of matter" that "embodies the light of science that is illuminating not only technologies but all fields of science."
The CIA seal, however, is meant to represent something totally different. The element of the seal that the post making the claim says resembles the university coat of arms is actually a "16-point compass star" that "represents the convergence of intelligence data from around the world at a central point." This is in contrast to the university coat of arms, which only contains nine points.
In the comments of the post making the claim, the user that published the post also says that "The shield is the same too." However, the shields in the university coat of arms and the CIA seal are mostly similar only in that they are shields. The shield featured in the university coat of arms has two top points with a rounded bottom, while the shield featured in the CIA seal has two slightly protruding top points with a bottom center point and two curves at the bottom.
Other Lead Stories fact checks
Lead Stories has debunked numerous claims related to Schwab and the World Economic Forum.
