DN Interview: Christian Ringnes’s Rich Life

How do you become one of the country’s most visible business figures – and at what cost?

In his book Hemmeligheten bak et rikt liv [The Secret Behind a Rich Life], Christian Ringnes takes an in-depth look at his own life for the first time. Ringnes has gone from being a shy and insecure boy to a man who negotiates major deals, shapes cityscapes – and has then written candidly about what success has given him and what it has cost. He talks about his daughter, who felt let down by her father’s priorities and consequent absence, as well as about his efforts to understand this in retrospect.

In conversation with Dagens Næringsliv journalist Jorunn Sofie Fallmo Aartun, we meet a man who is a strategist and a collector, a giver and a businessman. We go behind the scenes of Norwegian business, where conflicts and power struggles have shaped history. One of Ringnes’s most controversial feuds was with hotel magnate Petter Stordalen – yet today, they work together amicably. How did they go from being rivals to being partners? And how does one balance wealth, responsibility and relationships in business, as a philanthropist, and within the family?

The conversation will be held in Norwegian.