The media often report stories about people who went from rags to riches. Stories of ambition, entrepreneurship, desire for success, happiness and great determination. Some, however, had a difficult journey in the opposite direction – a life of luxury was replaced by the struggle to find a roof over their heads for the next night. Get to know the Kjell Larsson story.
Companies worth CZK 1.5 billion. At some point, his world began to collapse like a house of cards
Sweden had hotels and apartments all over the world. He participated in the construction of the Olympic Village for the 1994 Lillehammer Games. He met ministers and attended Nobel dinners. It seemed to him that he was on top of the world and the treasure would last forever. He did not expect that the empire he was building would collapse like a house of cards.
Larsson’s golden times were the second half of the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s. His companies were worth SEK 1.5 billion (PLN 555 million at the current exchange rate), and he owned properties, giving a- in Spain and two houses in Thailand. .
Then he got the first blow. The financial crisis pushed interest rates to 500%. Real estate prices, in turn, have fallen significantly and the same Kjell Larsson was jailed for tax evasion. It was a very difficult time for the Swedes, but he had no intention of giving up.
He founded more companies, this time in the service industry, and earned more millions. It looked like he was back in the game.
Divorce is the last nail in the coffin
In the meantime, he made another mistake that turned out to be even more costly. Larsson signed a prenuptial agreement and left the houses in Thailand, the house in Spain and the summer house to his wife. There was one thing he didn’t expect: divorce. In short, the entrepreneur was left with nothing.
In 2014, Swedish media discovered the former real estate king. “It’s a sad scene. Kjell Larsson sleeps in the corner of the train station in Sundsvall. He rests his head on a bare pillow, and at his feet is a bag of empty bottles,” wrote the daily Artetarbladet. “Today he is completely poor, he sleeps at the train station and collects bottles empty to get food for the day.”
– Of course I am bitter, I am completely poor – he told “Dagbladet” journalists then. – I’m not ashamed to say that I collect empty bottles. But the competition is strong. Yesterday, the owner of the boat gave me a bag of PET bottles for which I received two kroner.
“Kjell, you are deceived”
The entrepreneur was asked how he sees his future. – What is the future? I hit rock bottom, he admitted sadly.
In 2014, Larsson traveled from Sundsvall to Njurunda once a week, where he could shower and wash clothes in his 93-year-old mother’s apartment. He didn’t want to stay with her. He admitted that the woman kept saying to him, “Kjell, you are deceived,” which he did not want to hear anymore. Two decades earlier, people wanted to go in the cry of his glory. Years later he was left aloneand his only happiness was that he was allowed to sleep all night at the station in Sundsvall, which was not usual.
In August 2022, “Sundsvalls Tidning” reported the death of Kjell Larsson. A few weeks earlier, he gave his last interview to this daily. “I’ve known more than most people,” he admitted. His story did not have a happy ending.
2024-04-28 02:26:49
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