Susanne Klatten gained a degree in business finance and then did a course in marketing and management at the University of Buckingham, followed by an MBA in Lausanne specialising in advertising. Her first practical business experience was in London with Dresdner Bank, then with the Munich branch of management consultants McKinsey and with the bank Reuschel & Co. She often worked incognito under the name Susanne Kant.

On her father's death she inherited his 50.1% stake in pharmaceutical manufacturer Altana. She sits on Altana's supervisory board and has helped transform it into a world-class corporation in the German DAX list of 30 top companies.

Her father also left her a 12.5% stake in BMW. She was appointed to the supervisory board of BMW with her brother Stefan Quandt in 1997.

Susanne met Jan Klatten while she was calling herself Kant and did not tell him who she was until they were sure about each other. They married in 1990 in Kitzbühel. They have three children. She also plays golf and skis in Austria. The family live in Munich in seclusion. This is understandable because the police only prevented her kidnapping in 1978 at the last minute.