Petter Stordalen
Petter Anker Stordalen is a Norwegian investor, hotel tycoon, property developer and a selfproclaimed environmentalist. He has an estimated personal net worth of NOK 711 billion stemming from investments in hotels, shopping centers and properties. Stordalen is a selfmade business man. Through his company Nordic Choice Hotels, Stordalen owns in excess of 170 hotels and employs more than 9200 people. In the later stages of his career, Stordalen has pursued a number of philanthropic endeavors together with his wife, doctor and environmentalist Gunhild Anker Stordalen, donating large amounts of money to various charitable organizations within environmentclimate change and scientific research programs through The Stordalen Foundation, established in 2011.
Stordalen was born in Porsgrunn in Telemark, Norway to grocer Knut Anker Stordalen and Kari Stordalen. At the age of ten he began working in his fathers grocery store and at the age of twelve he began selling strawberries at the local market. He already then displayed his acumen for business, being named Norways top strawberry seller in the local paper, Porsgrunns Dagblad, in 1974, beating out his competition of 50 to 60yearold market ladies. Following high school he attended Kjpmannsinstituttet for one year, he then managed his fathers store for a short time before going off to the Norwegian School of Marketing.
Source: Wikipedia