“It is with great sadness that we received the news today of the death of Olaf Thon. He lived to be 101 years old” – informed Kjetil Nilsen, CEO of Olav Thon Gruppen. “Olaf Thon is greatly missed. He is remembered with great gratitude and joy for everything he did for his employees, clients and close friends. My warm thoughts go to his dear wife Sissel and his immediate family,” he wrote in a short farewell message.
A Norwegian real estate tycoon has died. He built an empire
Olav Thon Gruppen was the life's work of Olav Thon – one of the richest Norwegians. In 2013, Forbes estimated his fortune at PLN 6 billion dollarsbut due to the fact that the billionaire founded a foundation in his name to which he donated his savings, he was removed from the Forbes list. “He built an image of himself as a guy who gives away all his money and walks in the mountains to be healthy,” wrote Dag Ellingsen, author of a book about the deceased billionaire, about him.
He was born on June 29, 1923 on a farm in Hallingdal, Norway. He started his business adventure by opening a fur store in the Majorstuen district of Oslo, where he sold fox, squirrel and rabbit skins. He did it when he was eighteen. He entered the real estate market in 1950. Over time, he started buying restaurants and hotels, in 1989 he founded the Rainbow Hotels chain, later renamed Thon Hotels, and in the 1990s he expanded his operations to shopping centers.
“Billionaire in a jacket”. Olaf Thon worked for charity
The company he founded, Olav Thon Gruppen, is a tycoon. Currently it is owner approximately 90 shopping centers, 80 hotels and 500 commercial properties in Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands. In 2021, Olav Thon Gruppen achieved an operating income of 10.3 billion kroner (approximately $1.2 billion at the time).
Olaf Thon always appeared in a red woolen hat and tourist clothes. That's why his biography was titled “Olaf Thon: Billionaire in a Jacket.” He served as honorary chairman of the Norwegian Tourism Association. He helped pay for over 90 cottages and cottages. He was involved in charity activities. He used to say that he was “proud of his success and greatness taxeswhich he gladly paid. He had no children.