Wolfgang Stein, the founder and president of Maxfin S.A, can be quite rightly considered the inventor of Worldfairs marketing.
When he entered in 1985 discussions with the Spanish authorities for EXPO 1992 Sevilla he proposed to them, based on his long experience with international sports events (three Football Worldcups in Spain, Mexico, and Italy, Worldchampionships in Cycling, Icehockey, etc.) to market this Worldfair like a major sportsevent.

All previous Worldfairs were contenting themselves with the revenues from ticket sales, concessions and local licensing and supplies only.
In 1987 Wolfgang Stein signed through his former company Telemundi an exclusive agreement with EXPO 1992 which was followed by two other deals for smaller Worldfairs in the same year - COLOMBO 1992 and AMERIFLORA 1992 in Colombus, Ohio.

The activities of TELEMUNDI for EXPO 1992 alone raised a revenue from world-wide sponsors, suppliers, concessions and licences of USD 500 million, ten times the sum expected by the Spanish organisers.After 1992 Wolfgang Stein was in the area of Worldfairs working as a consultant to the planned EXPO 1995 Vienna- Budapest, which was unfortunately cancelled, and to the EXPO 2000 in Hannover.