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Supermarket trio tops Norway billionaires list

Three supermarket moguls topped the list of Norway's richest people compiled by Forbes Magazine in 2014, after hotelier and real estate mogul Olav Thon put his fortune into trust and lost his billionaire status.

Published: 4 March 2014 23:17 CET
Supermarket trio tops Norway billionaires list
Stein Erik Hagen. Photo: Orkla Group/Guri Dahl
Svein Erik Hagen was Norway's richest man, according to Forbes, having built up a $5bn fortune after making a series of successful investments since selling Rimi, the discount retailer he founded with his father, in 2004. He ranked 281st in the list of the world's richest men. 
 
Second and third in the list were supermarket moguls Odd Reitan, who owns the REMA 1000 supermarket chain, and Johan Johannson, who owns NorgesGruppen, another supermarket chain and who did not feature in last year's list, worth $3.8bn and $2.7bn respectively. 
 

A record nine Norwegian citizens qualified as billionaires in 2014, according to the magazine, with Johannson, shipping billionaire Jacob Stolt-Nielsen and hedge fund investor Alexander Vik all joining the list since 2013. 
 
Oil tanker baron John Fredriksen remains far and away the richest man of Norwegian origin, with a $13.6bn fortune. But he long ago became a citizen of Cyprus for tax reasons. 
 
Aker drilling owner Kjell Inge Rokke came in fourth with $2.5bn, followed by hedge fund mogul Andreas Halvorsen with $2.2bn, Royal Caribbean Cruises owner Arne Wilhemsen with $2bn, and Nordic Choice Hotels founder Petter Stordalen with $1.4bn. 
 
Shipping magnate Jacob Stolt-Nielsen came next with $1.15bn, followed by another hedge fund billionaire, Alexander Vik with $1bn. 
 
H&M owner Stefan Persson was the highest ranking Swede, with a  $34.4bn fortune which put him at number 12 worldwide. 
 
American IT mogul Bill Gates topped the list yet again with an estimated $76 billion to his name, a spot on the list he has enjoyed for 15 of the last 20 years. 
 
To see the full list click here. 

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MAP: Where are Spain’s richest and poorest towns?

A map charting the average income of people by municipality in Spain reveals a startling north-south divide.

Published: 7 June 2019 09:12 CEST
MAP: Where are Spain's richest and poorest towns?
Farm workers in the 'Casa Vieja' shantytown in Nijar, Almeria province, registered as the poorest in Spain. Photo: AFP

While all almost all of the wealthiest towns located in Madrid, Barcelona and the Basque Country, at the other end of the scale, the poorest towns can be found along the coast from Andalusia to Alicante.

The data comes from the National Statistics Office (INE) records from 2016 on municipalities with a population of at least 20,000 people and reveals the average salary per capita.

The data is based on tax returns for 2016 divided over the entire community officially registered as residents on the padron – including children, students, the elderly and unemployed.

Madrid province overwhelmingly dominates the wealthiest zones with 11 municipalities – including the city of Madrid itself – appearing in the top 20. The other towns are all suburbs in the north and northwest of the city.

Barcelona province has three municipalities in the top twenty – Barcelona city, Sant Cugat del Vallés, a suburb to the northeast and the coastal resort of Sitges.

The Basque Country has five in the top twenty; Getxo, San Sebastian, Mondragon, Zarautz and Vitoria-Gasteiz while Galicia has one; Oleiros, a commuter town outside A Coruña.

The interactive map below shows the location of the 20 richest towns in blue and 20 poorest towns in red.

Meanwhile Níjar in Almeria province takes the title of poorest town (above 20,000 population) in the whole of Spain with an average annual salary of €6,253 per head of the population.

But it is joined in the bottom 20 by 13 other towns in Andalusia; three others in Almeria province, two each in Huelva, Seville and Malaga, a further three in Cadiz and one in Granada.

The Canary Islands have two towns among Spain’s poorest; Arona on Tenerife and and La Oliva on the island of Las Palmas.

Four towns in Alicante are included among the poorest; Almoradi, Mazarrón, Torrevieja and Calpe. The latter two are popular with retired Brits whose presence there certainly brings down the average income.

 

 

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