He is one of the richest men in Norway.
Appearances are deceiving: this modest-retired — ULAW Thun (Olav Thon), one of the richest men in Norway. He owns numerous commercial properties, including shopping centers and hotels. The Olav is 92, and he still works ten hours a day, six days a week.
On Friday evening, when the office staff of his company have gone about their business in anticipation of the weekend, ULAW no intention to go home. And in General, on retirement, he is not going, despite his advanced age. In an interview with the magazine Scandinavian Traveler, he says: “I come to the office at 7 or 8 am, spend the whole day in meetings and go home about six in the evening. 10-hour day is the norm for me. I love to work.”
This humble grandpa in the hood — in fact, the Norwegian billionaire on the Forbes list
Olav used to say in the old way, using fancy design and grammatical forms that are not already in the move. Probably 20-year-old Norwegians have never heard of such forms of the verbs he uses. Said so in his native village Ål in Hallingdal.
Olav Tun, the Chairman of the Board Olav Thon Gruppen (OTG), which owns shopping malls and hotels in Norway and abroad, as well as the airport and chemical production. “I can’t be everywhere every day, but there hasn’t been one week that I did not know about the status of sales and other Affairs in each location. When it comes to investment in OTG, there is little that solved my “no” or “Yes” — he said in an interview.
To get into the Forbes list of billionaires — not bad for a farm boy who never finished high school. “I wanted to study medicine, but then in Europe in 1939, the war began. My parents decided that it would be unsafe if I leave the house, so I stayed in Hollingdale, wondering what to do next. In this area there was a Fox farm, so I took a few Fox skins and went to Oslo to sell them.”
Resourceful lad has achieved success step by step, and after a year of Olav opened his own fur business on the Western outskirts of Oslo. By the time he finally said goodbye to a home and life on the farm. “Things were going so well that I opened a branch in Oslo the following year. When I was 20, the building in which was my store put up for sale. I bought it”.
It was the whole building on the street Karl Johans gate, one of the biggest in Oslo. Now here is the big shopping center Arkaden. ULAW paid NOK 1.4 million for this building, but he had a total of 80 thousand crowns, and the rest of the sum he borrowed. “I had an interesting customer for banks, and I’m always willing to lend,” says Olav, wink is his signature gesture. — I have always made payments on time.”
Risks he did not care. Being a student of history, he knew that the value of the property usually increases. “Take, for example, farms in Hallingdal. A couple of hundred years ago you could buy them for a few dollars. They grew up in price, except for a pair of temporary reductions, such as in 1929 and 1990. So I never considered his acquisition risky. This applies to the possession of physical assets. Banks, who complain that they have a lot of real estate really do not have trouble”.
In Norway, as in other countries, people who know how to earn money earn and enemies. Olav tuna much criticized politicians, journalists and writers. “Doesn’t bother me at this type of thing. I have a huge belief in their own abilities. Maybe it sounds too arrogant?”
Olav Tun differs from most billionaires his modesty and simplicity. “I drive a Volkswagen, and I have only one ski, and bike. Red knitted hat, which he loves to wear, tied up his wife Sissel. On the inner side there is a note with his phone and a message that the finder hat are rewarded with 500 NOK.
Modesty is a trait that Olav carried through all 75 years of his life in Oslo. According to him, he has very few superiors, and everyone does their job, including himself.
“To succeed in business, the most important thing is to be able to juggle multiple balls. When I buy a new property or enter into a new market, I make every effort to develop it further. I don’t sell anything to earn a few kroner more, and not invest money where profits can be less.”
ULAW Tong spends a lot of time outdoors. Recently, he donated the building of the Norwegian trekking Association. In 2013 he opened his own charity Foundation and rewrote my company on him. Olav have no children, and he loves to say, you can’t bring money with me to the light, so when he dies, all his fortune will go to a good cause. The Foundation participates in the management of the company and OTG supports scientific research in the field of medicine and entrepreneurship. ULAW always dreamed of becoming a doctor. “I believe science is fascinating and important subject. I wanted to study medicine, but if I became a doctor, I probably would not have engaged in practice. I would rather have built the hospital.”
