Sven

"When development had progressed this far, Ruben decided that the milk packaging business should be placed in a separate company. He was well-prepared: as early as 1946, he had applied for the registration of Aktiebolaget Alicante to have on hand in case the tetrahedron became something. Now was the time, and in 1950, on Erik Torudd’s suggestion, the small 10,000-krona company Alicante changed its name to Tetra Pak. It was also decided that the company should be registered in 57 different countries—big plans were being made within the walls of Åkerlund & Rausing’s headquarters. But for now, there was no actual business in Tetra Pak. The development work was still being conducted within the framework of Åkerlund & Rausing. The shares that Ruben had so far been the sole owner of, were transferred after a couple of years to Ruben’s three sons, Gad, Hans, and Sven. They each received 25 percent. The remaining 25 percent went to the partner Holger Crafoord. The sons also took over Ruben’s share in Åkerlund & Rausing. The Rausing share was controlled through AB Vapor."

"It was anything but how he had envisioned his career when he chose to stay home instead of returning to the USA. The career that had previously been straightforward was now slowly going downhill. Becoming more and more despondent, he was forced to realise that knowledge and competence alone are not enough to build a career, but that it also requires the ability to handle the power play within a company. Ruben had spent nearly ten years at SLT, years that now felt wasted. He had no doubts that with the help of his network he could secure another top job, but his career had still been braked in an unpleasant way. In an interview at the end of the 1970s, Ruben described the period as “the toughest in my life.” The major bright spot was that the couple had another son, Sven, who was born in 1928. But the joy of Sven was short-lived; after a few years, it turned out that Sven was intellectually disabled. Ruben suffered a brief, yet serious, setback."