Viking Cruises Founder Loses 66% Of Wealth As Pandemic Hits Norway’s Richest

Viking Cruises founder and chair Torstein Hagen has crashed from second to tenth place in a ranking of Norway’s wealthiest people, as the global pandemic continues to hit the travel industry.

Cruise industry troubles

According to the latest annual list produced by Norwegian financial magazine Kapital, Hagen has seen his personal wealth drop from $6.28 billion down to an estimated $2.1 billion in the space of a year. It is the biggest single-year drop ever recorded in the 30-year history of the report.

Founded in 1997 with just four ships, Viking Cruises has grown to a fleet of 82 vessels used on ocean and river cruises around the world. As with other cruise lines, the coronavirus pandemic forced the company to suspend operations for many months.

The sudden drop in revenue combined with a refund obligation to many thousands of passengers left it desperately short of cash.

Norway’s richest now worth less

The long-term impact of the coronavirus pandemic on national economies remains to be seen, but we are starting to see the impact on personal wealth.

For the first time since the fallout of the financial crisis 10 years ago, Norway’s 400 richest people are worth less than the previous year. The Kapital report shows that total assets of the 400 richest now total $146.2 billion compared with $147 billion in 2019.

The Kapital report uses confirmed 2019 wealth figures from Norway’s open tax return data and adjusts them based on business deals, share price performance and other public information throughout the first half of 2020.

Other winners and losers

Despite a 7.8% drop in wealth, 78-year-old John Fredriksen retains his title as Norway’s wealthiest person. The shipping industry billionaire has held top spot every year since 2003.

His wealth of $10.8 billion is more than twice that of anyone else in Norway, yet he placed just 141st on the Forbes Billionaires 2020 list. Norway-born, Fredriksen took Cypriot citizenship in 2006.

Not everyone has suffered during the coronavirus pandemic. Norway’s retailers, the seafood industry and some investors all performed well.

Supermarket kings Odd Reitan ($4.64 billion) and Johan Johannson ($4.59 billion) both climbed the rankings into second and third places respectively. Seafood billionaire Gustav Witzøe of Salmar ASA climbed three places to sixth with a total wealth of $3.5 billion, up 12.4% on the previous year.

There are 51 women on the list of 400, the same number as last year. Norway’s richest woman, 68-year-old real estate investor Ruth Katharina Mustad Bevreng, ranks 31st.