Does Denmark’s Economy Depend On Obesity?
WinkelmannBefore iPhones and Androids came along and blew up its market, Nokia was one of the world’s biggest mobile-phone makers.In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Finland’s economy swelled on the success of its national champion, enjoying unprecedented growth and record tax revenue.
Before iPhones and Androids came along and blew up its market, Nokia was one of the world’s biggest mobile-phone makers.In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Finland’s economy swelled on the success of its national champion, enjoying unprecedented growth and record tax revenue. Then, the arrival of more agile competitors — alongside a global financial crisis and a decline in Finland’s paper industry — not only upended Nokia, but dragged down the country’s entire economy.
Now, economists are worried the same might happen to Denmark.
In the past few years, the Danish economy has grown fat on the success of Novo Nordisk, maker of blockbuster drugs Wegovy and Ozempic. Thanks in part to the drugmaker’s runaway profits, the government has been able to increase spending on health care, green energy initiatives and defense, all while cutting income taxes.But with rival Eli Lilly gobbling up market share, Novo has fallen on hard times. This week, its new CEO cut expected profits for the third time this year and slashed 11% of its workforce, prompting many to ask: how close is the country to having its own Nokia moment?For now, the answer is: not anytime soon. Public finances are stable and even with reduced growth, Novo is still minting money for Denmark.
So perhaps a better question is whether Maziar Mike Doustdar, the new CEO, can fix what’s broken within Novo and reclaim the company’s dominance in the obesity market. He’s already given some indications of how he plans to try — by moving Novo away from a Danish work culture focused on flexibility and work-life balance to a more American emphasis on performance. In that capacity, he’s already announced an end to working from home.Since discovering oil in the 1960s, Norway has had to reconcile its environmental ambitions with the sometimes uncomfortable fact that oil and gas have made it enormously wealthy.
The results of this week’s national election could make that tension even harder to manage — at least in the country’s parliament. While Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store and his Labor Party held on to power, they did so with only 28% of the vote, meaning that they’ll now have to rely on four smaller parties — and namely, the Greens — to get on with the business of governing.The Greens had their best-ever showing in the election, claiming eight seats in parliament. That gives the party a bigger mandate to push through policies aimed at phasing out fossil fuel.One target they’re likely to focus on is a forthcoming licensing round for oil and gas companies. Announced last month by the Labor-led government, the round invites corporates to bid on the rights to drill for oil in the Norwegian continental shelf.
With the Greens opposed and the three other small left-leaning parties similarly inclined, there’s a good chance the plan will be stopped in its tracks.The oil companies, for their part, are trying to stay above the political fray and hoping for the best. “We’ve had a good collaboration with governments for many years,” Jon Erik Reinhardsen, chairman of energy giant Equinor, told an audience of oil and gas investors on Wednesday.
“I think that will continue.”
President Alexander Stubb of Finland has defied the odds as the leader of a small country by earning a seat at the most important diplomatic tables. He has the ear of US President Donald Trump and has won the confidence of Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Stubb is the first guest on Bloomberg Originals’ new series, Leaders with Francine Lacqua, which premieres Friday and features interviews with international decision-makers. In the episode, the president opens up about his motivations and influences, and why Finland is worth listening to.
The Nordic IPO scene is waking up as Scandinavians return from their summer breaks. On Wednesday, Noba Bank signaled its intent to launch a third-quarter public offering, which would value it at $3.7 billion. That sets it up to be the biggest Stockholm-based listing since Volvo Cars went public in 2021. That title, however, could also be claimed by Verisure, a home security firm that has said it will list on Nasdaq’s Swedish market. The company has yet to announce a date, but a September timing has been reported. And while buy-now-pay-later giant Klarna opted to list in New York over Stockholm, the company’s trading debut on Tuesday will still deliver a windfall to its Swedish founders and investors. Across the sea, Finland is considering an initial public offering of the country’s postal service Posti Group on the Helsinki stock exchange as soon as this year, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
One last job? That was what it looked like when 74-year-old Hakan Samuelsson came out of retirement in March to lead Volvo Cars. And the veteran CEO could hardly have chosen a more challenging task. During a recent visit to Bloomberg’s European headquarters in London, Samuelsson discussed the journey ahead for the Swedish carmaker and how the transition to electric will likely mean the end of some established car brands. “In the new world, there will be two or three very strong Chinese brands,” he said, warning that not all companies will be able to compete.
Swedbank CEO Jens Henriksson had been known to tell journalists that it would take five years for various investigations into the lender’s anti-money-laundering measures to wrap up. Turns out, he was at least partially right. On Saturday, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it would close an investigation that it opened in 2019 without penalizing the bank. But that doesn’t mean Henriksson can collect on any bets yet — two potentially more serious probes, both in the US, continue to circle the Stockholm lender.
Norway’s Svalbard archipelago is about as remote a location as can be found. It’s also home to critical communications and satellite infrastructure, and right near Russia’s Kola peninsula, which is key to the country’s nuclear capabilities. The High North “is our most strategically important area,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store told Bloomberg in July.
