Hagen is the chairman of Orkla, a group of consumer goods companies. The Oslo-based conglomerate had revenue of 70.7 billion ($7 billion) in 2024. Hagen manages his investments, including Orkla, through holding company Canica. He founded supermarket chain Rimi in the 1970s and exited by the early 2000s.
A big chunk of Hagen's fortune is derived from a 25% stake in publicly traded Orkla. He controls the investment through several Oslo-based holding companies: Canica, Tvist 5 and Stein Erik Hagen AS, according to the company's 2024 annual report.
Anora Group was created in September 2021 from the merger of drink makers Arcus, in which Hagen had a 45% stake. Canica owns 22% of Anora as of Dec. 31, 2024, according to its annual report.
Hagen founded discount supermarket chain Rimi in 1976 and merged it with Swedish food retailer ICA in 1998. He sold his stake between 2000 and 2004, collecting more than $1.8 billion. He also earned $1 billion from buying department store chain Steen & Stroem in 2007 and selling it just one year later, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The proceeds, minus the cost of acquiring these and other assets, are included as cash and other assets. The value of his cash investments is based on an analysis of these cash flows as well as dividends, insider transactions, taxes, market performance and charitable contributions.
Erik Hagen passed beneficial ownership of Canica to his daughter Caroline Hagen Kjos in 2015. He's still credited with the fortune because he retains voting control and the transfer to Switzerland-based Kjos was primarily for tax planning purposes, according to a September 2015 article in Norwegian business daily Dagens Naeringsliv.
Hakon Mageli, a spokesperson for Orkla, declined to comment on the net worth calculation.
Stein Erik Hagen was born on July 22, 1956 in Oslo, three years after his father had opened his first grocery store. By the time Hagen joined the family business in the mid-70s, it comprised about five stores.
Around that time Hagen founded Rimi, a discount supermarket concept inspired by similar businesses in West Germany. Its slogan: "Easiest is cheapest." As he expanded Rimi, he began looking for a bigger strategic partner that could add capital and know-how. In 1992, he sold 30% of his company to Swedish retailer ICA. The two completed a full merger a few years later. In the early 2000s, Hagen sold off his stake in the combined company.
Since then, he's invested in a range of other businesses through his holding company, Canica, which was set up in 1985. Operating out of Oslo and Switzerland, the firm has poured money into several Norwegian companies, including industrial and consumer products group Orkla, commercial real estate investor Norwegian Property, and electronics maker Nordic Semiconductor. For example, he bought department store chain Steen & Strom for $2 billion in 2007 and sold it a year later for twice that amount.
Hagen married Mille-Marie Treschow in June 2004. The couple announced their separation in August 2012. A decade later Hagen publicly revealed that he was bisexual.
Hagen has four children. Three of them have been involved in Canica since 2009. His daughter, Caroline Hagen Kjos, became the firm's chairperson in 2014.