Göran Persson, former prime minister of Sweden, leaves his position as chairman of the board of LKAB, the state owned mining company. The decision was announced in late December last year and Persson will leave his position during the annual general meeting in april. Persson is also chairman of Swedbank and Greengold Group, as well as strategic advisor for Lumo Advice.

Sweden’s finance minister, Elisabeth Svantesson, criticized the massive dividends distributed by major Swedish banks in an interview with TT news agency this saturday. The four largest banks in Sweden are expected to distribute 90 billion SEK in dividends to its shareholders in 2024, which was criticized by the finance ministers. Svantesson states that while she is not against banks distributing dividends per se, she said that ‘’these huge profits, that are now distributed, provokes people’’. She further said that it is ‘’unreasonable that banks are this tone deaf when so many are hurting’’.

Following speeches by Sweden’s prime minister, minister for civil defense and the commander in chief during the Swedish national defense conference one week ago, all of which emphasized that Sweden at war is a future possibility. Swedish consumers have rushed to buy prepping materials. Retail store chain Clas Ohlson reports an increase of several hundred percent on certain products, especially jerricans and radios.

Friends Arena, Sweden’s national football arena located outside of Stockholm, will be known as Strawberry arena as of July 12 this year. Norwegian business magnate Petter Stordalen who owns Strawberry, one of Scandinavia’s largest hotel chains, secured a 10-year sponsoring contract worth ‘’well over 100 million SEK’’. The deal between Stordalen and Stockholm Live, who owns the arena, was announced on January 13.