Kinnevik AB facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Kinnevik AB

Type	Aktiebolag
Traded as	OMX: KINV B
ISIN	ISIN: [https://isin.toolforge.org/?language=en&isin=SE0014684510 SE0014684510 ISIN: SE0014684528 ]
Industry	Investment
Founded	1936; 89 years ago (1936)
Founders	Hugo Stenbeck Wilhelm Klingspor Robert von Horn
Headquarters	Stockholm, Sweden
Key people	James Anderson (Chairman) Georgi Ganev (CEO) Samuel Sjöström CFO)

Kinnevik AB is a Swedish company that invests in other businesses. It was started in 1936 by three families: Stenbeck, Klingspor, and von Horn.

Kinnevik likes to be an active and long-term owner. This means they don't just buy shares; they also help the companies they invest in grow over time. They mostly put their money into companies that use digital technology to serve customers.

Today, Kinnevik owns parts of more than 35 companies. They invest in businesses across Europe and in the United States. Kinnevik focuses on four main areas:

• Healthcare (like online doctor visits)
• Software (computer programs)
• Marketplaces (websites where people buy and sell things)
• Climate tech (technology that helps the environment)

Their biggest investment is in a company called Tele2. The current CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of Kinnevik is Georgi Ganev, who started in 2018.

History of Kinnevik

Kinnevik began as an investment company in 1936. It was founded by Robert von Horn, Wilhelm Klingspor, and Hugo Stenbeck. When it first started, Kinnevik owned parts of companies like Mellersta Sveriges Lantbruks AB and Korsnäs Sågverks AB. The company quickly grew by buying shares and other businesses, including chocolate makers.

Kinnevik kept buying more Swedish industrial companies in its early years. Over time, Hugo Stenbeck slowly bought more and more shares in Kinnevik.

In 1954, Kinnevik became a company whose shares could be bought and sold on the stock market. This helped them get more money to invest. A few years later, they bought their first shares in Sandvikens Järnverk.

In the early 1960s, Hugo Stenbeck became the chairman of Kinnevik. Soon after, his oldest son, Hugo Stenbeck Jr., became the company's managing director.

Hugo Stenbeck Jr. passed away in 1976. His younger brother, Jan Hugo Stenbeck, then joined Kinnevik's leadership team. Hugo Stenbeck Sr. died in 1977.

In the late 1970s, Kinnevik bought more shares in Sandvik AB and Fagersta AB. They also bought a large part of an insurance company called Atlantica in 1978. In 1980, they bought several car companies and put them together under the name Svenska Motor AB. This included importing and selling Toyota cars.

New Technologies and Media

In the early 1980s, a Kinnevik company called Comvik AB started a new mobile phone system. After some legal fights with the state-owned phone company, Comvik won the right to operate.

In 1985, Kinnevik finished building a satellite system to send television signals. By the late 1980s, they were strongly challenging the government's control over phones, TV, and radio. Their TV channel, TV3, started broadcasting from London on New Year's Eve in 1987.

Comvik was allowed to start a new mobile phone network in 1989. The next year, a new company called Millicom International Cellular was formed.

Kinnevik started its first radio broadcasts in 1991. In the same year, Kinnevik became the biggest owner of the new TV4 channel. In 1995, they launched a free newspaper called Metro International. This idea quickly spread around the world.

Tele2 was created in 1993 and its shares were listed on the Stockholm stock market in 1996.

In 1995, MTG became a separate company under Kinnevik. Before that, it was just a part of Kinnevik that handled TV and media. MTG became its own company in 1997 and was listed on stock markets in Stockholm and New York.

Jan Hugo Stenbeck passed away on August 19, 2002. Edvard von Horn took over as chairman. Later, Pehr G. Gyllenhammar became chairman in 2004, and then Cristina Stenbeck in 2007. In 2016, Cristina Stenbeck decided to step down as Chairman, but she still remains on Kinnevik's board of directors.

Between 2005 and 2010, Kinnevik changed its investments a lot. They owned more of Millicom and less of forestry companies. During this time, they also started investing in many internet businesses, especially online shopping companies. After 2010, they invested even more in companies like Rocket Internet, Zalando, Avito, and Global Fashion Group.

In 2013, Kinnevik sold all its remaining shares in BillerudKorsnäs. In 2014, Zalando and Rocket Internet, two companies Kinnevik had invested in, started selling their shares to the public for the first time (called an IPO). In 2015, Avito was sold to a large media company from South Africa. Kinnevik sold its remaining shares in Rocket Internet in 2017.

Kinnevik Today

Georgi Ganev became the CEO of Kinnevik in January 2018. James Anderson became the Chairman of Kinnevik in 2021.

In 2018, Kinnevik supported the joining of Tele2 and Com Hem. Later that year, Kinnevik also gave its shares in MTG to its own shareholders. In 2018, Kinnevik also invested more in Livongo and put money into companies like Kolonial.no, Karma, BudBee, Pleo, Deposit Solutions, Cedar, and Monese.

In 2019, Kinnevik gave its remaining shares in Millicom to its shareholders.

In 2021, Kinnevik gave its Zalando shares to its shareholders. This was to help balance its investments more towards newer, growing technology companies.

In 2023, Kinnevik sold its remaining shares in Teladoc.

Significant Holdings

As of March 31, 2023, Kinnevik's Net Asset Value was 55.5 billion Swedish Kronor (SEK). Net Asset Value is basically what the company is worth if you add up all its investments.

Here are Kinnevik's largest investments:

Shareholders

This table shows who owns Kinnevik's shares, based on how many votes they have, as of May 5, 2023. "Percent of capital" means how much of the company they own. "Percent of votes" means how much say they have in company decisions.

See also

In Spanish: Kinnevik AB para niños