Wallenbergs

"Perhaps the drama was more traumatic for Sweden, where we believed so strongly in the stability in various manifestations, where the Wallenbergs and social democracy were so strong and had existed for so long, where the spectacle was fixed and we believed that we had laid the rails towards the future forever."

"Now, there was both a concrete packaging and an idea of how it could be filled. Rausing was convinced that they had found a superior solution for how milk should be packaged. He realized that the packaging could become a mass product that could be manufactured in gigantic quantities. If he just played his cards right, the royalty income from the production would be enormous. Ruben Rausing had sometimes played with the idea of making the family into an industrial dynasty of the same kind as the Wallenbergs. But so far, realism had held back his dreams. The milk packaging, on the other hand, made his imagination take off again. But for the dream to come true, all patents had to be written to him. Therefore, Erik Wallenberg transferred the ownership of the tetrahedron patent to Ruben Rausing in December that year."

"The strategists’ conclusion was to buy as many shares as possible on the market and then concentrate all power in a single company, Investor. But to implement such an operation required capital and more capital than the Wallenbergs had available. The only solution was to sell another part of the empire."

"When Forsinvest was cleared of the majority of Volvo shares and had fulfilled its role for Pirre in the power struggle with Gyllenhammar, Forsinvest was put up for sale. I formed a consortium, including among others the investment company Hevea and Forsinvest's CEO Gunnar Ekdahl. We completed the acquisition and reached over fifty percent control. Wasatornet was the largest owner with twenty-six percent. The Wallenbergs remained with twenty percent."

"Of course, I assumed that Dahlbäck had informed his circle about my involvement in this solution and that there was therefore a measure of gratitude among them, especially since I did not publicly disclose my involvement. But I made a big psychological mistake. Through my efforts, their need for help had become apparent – and they did not forgive me for this. After a few more years, I began to realize and understand the risks of helping dynasties in their difficult situations. I have since set as a condition for help not to be punished for it. The relations with the Wallenbergs have since become peaceful."

"Among them were stories about the great business legends the Wallenbergs, Kreuger, and Thiel, who lived near the grandparents' Parkudden out on Djurgården. I saw money early on as a way to achieve freedom from the constraints at home."

"Wallenbergs, Bonniers, Ax:son Johnsons, H&M's Perssons, and a few others."

"On this basis, my family and I have come to our own ownership model, which deviates from many others. We do not want to build a family dynasty where the ambition is for daddy's boy or girl to be trained in the family's company in operational positions to eventually become CEO. It can succeed, and we have good examples of that. Families like the Wallenbergs and Bonniers have managed the process for five or six generations by now. But it's more the exception than the rule. Many families have been forced away from large ownership concentrations when time and competition have run past them. This has often happened due to problems with a family member in an operational role. The wrong choice of people for key positions has been made."

"I have a very firm belief that those who work in our companies should never ever think that jobs are filled on any basis other than competence. To make this credible, we in the family should never make a career in the companies. I am a strong opponent of the idea that owner children should have more or less guaranteed positions in the family’s businesses. I believe this not least for the sake of the owner children and their sense of identity. It can be a difficult life for them. In very small businesses, where there are only a few employees, the situation is different. There, it can work. But as soon as it involves a certain size, I am very skeptical. The Wallenbergs obviously feel the same way; they have not overpopulated the companies with relatives."