Meet Norway's richest man, Olav Thon
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As the title states, Olav Thon is known as Norway's richest man and he was born on June 29, 1923. He is a Norwegian real estate developer, and because of his wealth, Olav Thon has made it to the list of Forbes list of billionaires as the 198th richest person as of March 2013, with his net worth being over $6 billion. He has over 450 properties and over 60 hotels, while being the owner of the largest Norway's private real estate company called the Olav Thon Group.
He was born in a village and was raised as a farmer. The only time he actually visited the city was when he was supposed to sell fox pelts. Currently, Olav Thon is known to live a bit outside of Oslo in Sollihøgda, and he is a Christian. However, even though he is married, Olav Thon does not have any children.
Even in his 90s, Olav Thon has stated that he enjoys outdoors activities as they make him feel young again. He is also very proud of his success and wealth, and he does not mind paying his largest bill, while being known as an honorary member of the Norwegian Trekking Association. The beginning of his successful business was actually way back in 1951 when Olav Thon bought his first building, and after that, he opened his first restaurant, which was in 1966.
However, even Olav Thon has become too old, and he has decided to do something with his fortune. Because he does not have any children, he decided to do something a bit different. On September 10, 2008, Olav Thon had an interview with an article for the Norwegian newspaper called the Dagens Næringsliv, where he was interviewed by John Christian Elden who announced what Olav Thon intends to do with his fortune.
Since he is known as one of the richest men out there, everyone is surely interested in what he intends to do, and the result might not be as surprising as you thought. Olav Thon has already donated a large portion of his wealth to charity, and he intends to donate the rest of his wealth to an establishment which is an independent foundation whose focus is on medical sciences. To make everything official, on December 10, 2013, Olav Thon has said that the rest of his 71.9% stake in the Olav Thon Eiendomsselskap ASA (his real estate company), will be given to charity.
Seeing that he is the type of a man to give his money away easily, this is probably not a big surprise to all. Simply put, Olav Thon has found a perfect way to leave something behind to the ones who need it, as he will be remembered for the years to come. Currently, he has retired from many of his businesses, as he spends his time enjoying some peace and quiet, estimating his personal assets to be around 1 billion USD.