Wallenberg family

Wallenberg
Banking Industry
André Oscar Wallenberg by Gustav Uno Troili
Country	Sweden
Place of origin	Linköping, Lund, Stockholm
Founded	1856 (1856)
Founder	André Oscar Wallenberg
Titles	Royal Order of the Seraphim French Legion of Honour Order of the German Eagle Order of the British Empire Order of the Rising Sun Honorary citizenship of the United States
Members	Bishop Marcus Wallenberg André Oscar Wallenberg Marcus Wallenberg Sr. Knut Agathon Wallenberg Axel Fingal Wallenberg Marcus Wallenberg Jr. Jacob Wallenberg (1892–1980) Peter Wallenberg Sr. Peter Wallenberg Jr. Marc Wallenberg Raoul Wallenberg Marcus Wallenberg (born 1956) Jacob Wallenberg Gustaf Oscar Wallenberg
Connected families	von Sydow Lundin Wehtje von Essen af Ugglas Hambro Palmstierna Clan Mackay De Geer Bonde Rockefeller Palme family Morgan Warburg Bush Sachs
Traditions	Lutheranism
Motto	Esse non videri ("to act, not to seem to be")
Estate(s)	Villa Täcka Udden Brevik Manor Saltsjöbaden Grand Hotel Grand Hotel Stockholm Vidbynäs Manor Malmvik Manor Stockholm School of Economics
Website	www.wallenberg.com

The Wallenberg family is a prominent Swedish family, Europe's most powerful business dynasty. Wallenbergs are noted as bankers, industrialists, politicians, bureaucrats, diplomats and military. The Wallenberg sphere's holdings employ about 600,000 people and have sales of $154 billion a year. The Wallenberg empire consists of 16 Wallenberg Foundations, Foundation Asset Management AB (FAM), Investor AB, Patricia Industries and Wallenberg Investments AB.

In the 1970s, the Wallenberg family businesses employed 40% of Sweden's industrial workforce and represented 40% of the total worth of the Stockholm stock market. By 2011, their conglomerate holding company, Investor AB, had an approximate ownership of 120 companies. By 2022, the Wallenberg sphere had an approximate ownership of 330 companies. In 2015, the family still owned a third of Sweden’s entire stock exchange.

The Wallenbergs control many Swedish multinationals and other European industrial groups, such as world leading telecommunication multinational Ericsson; Scandinavian and Baltic bank giant Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken; one of the world's largest paper and pulp multinationals Stora Enso, (which is world's oldest limited liability company); world's largest stock exchange company Nasdaq, Inc.; global leader in smart technologies and complete lifecycle solutions for marine and energy markets Wärtsilä; world's second-largest appliance maker Electrolux; one of the world's largest power, automation and robotics multinationals ABB; one of Europe's largest aerospace and arms manufacturers SAAB; Scandinavian airliner SAS Group; world's largest ball-bearing company SKF; manufacturer of compressors, vacuum and air treatment systems, construction equipment, power tools and assembly systems Atlas Copco; Europe's fourth largest pharmaceutical multinational AstraZeneca; outdoor power products, consumer watering products, cutting equipment and diamond tools manufacturer Husqvarna; Sobi; mining and infrastructure business company Epiroc; investment conglomerate Investor AB; the Grand Group hotel; world's largest supplier of powdered metal Höganäs AB; Europe's second-largest equity firm with portfolio companies in Europe, Asia and the USA EQT Partners, etc. Former holdings include, among others, fifth-largest truck manufacturer in the world Scania AB, Saab Automobile.

Wallenbergs, through the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, allocate annually SEK 2 billion to science and research, which makes the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation one of the largest private research foundations in Europe, and has, until 2020, awarded SEK 31.2 billion in grants.

Raoul Wallenberg, a diplomat, worked in Budapest, Hungary, during World War II to rescue Jews from the Holocaust. Between July and December 1944, he issued protective passports and housed Jews, saving tens of thousands.

Early History

Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Statue, Great Cumberland Place, London

The earliest known member patrilineally of the Wallenberg family is maintaining farmer Per Hansson of Hertzberga (1670–1741) outside Linköping in Östergötland who, in 1692, married Kerstin Jacobsdotter Schuut (1671–1752). Their son, sheriff Jacob Persson Wallberg (1699–1758) married twice. The children of his first marriage to Märta Christina Kiuhlman adopted the surname Wallberg, and those of his second to Anna Kristina Tillberg, daughter of vicar Marcus Joannis Tillberg, adopted the surname Wallenberg. The eldest son of his second marriage was lector of theology and vicar of Slaka, Marcus Wallenberg. His younger brother, Jacob Wallenberg, was a naval chaplain of the Swedish East India Company and author of the Swedish classic, a travelogue My Son on the Galley, original title Min son på galejan.

The first economist was my grandfather, André Oscar Wallenberg. He was the son of the bishop. My father, Marcus Wallenberg Sr., used to say that the early Wallenbergs had no immediate financial aptitude. Rather, the financial aptitudes, as my father used to say, quite jokingly, whenever the marseillaise was played that, "the marseillaise was the reason I became a banker". People, then, wondered upon hearing that. He, then, explained, that his grandfather, the bishop, was a theology student in Uppsala in the 1790s, and a member of a musical quartet, ―he played the violin cello―, and on a Walpurgis night he had played the marseillaise and was therefore expelled, because Gustaf IV Adolf had declared the marseillaise lèse-majesté. He therefore moved to Lund where he met a girl, of the Barfoth family, daughter of professor Barfoth and his wife, born Bager, who was a member of the famous merchant family Bager of Malmö. He therefore used to say that the financial aptitude, if we have one, originates from there.

— Marcus Wallenberg Jr., On Lennart Hyland, Swedish Television, 1980

The eldest son of lector and vicar Marcus Wallenberg, and the only child in his marriage to Sara Helena Kinnander, was Marcus Wallenberg (1774–1883). Marcus Wallenberg studied at Uppsala University in the early 1790s and was promoted Master of Philosophy in 1797 and in the same year graduated juris utriusque. He became an associate professor of Roman eloquence in 1800, but was forced to leave Uppsala the same year after the so-called music process and moved to Lund where he married Anna Laurentia Barfoth, daughter of professor of anatomy, Andreas Barfoth, at Lund university and Elsa Maria Bager, of the famous merchant family Bager of Malmö. In 1802, he became a notary public in Linköping, and in 1805, a lecturer in Greek at Linköping university where he translated the Illiad and Odyssey from Greek to Swedish. He was ordained in 1817, promoted doctor of theology around the time of Karl XIV Johan's ascension to the throne, and between 1819 and 1833, held the position as bishop of Linköping diocese. He attended the Riksdags in 1823 and between 1828 to 1830. In 1801, Wallenberg was elected a member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Music and in 1821, he became an honorary member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities.

Marcus Wallenberg was a freemason and a member of the masonic lodges in Malmö and Lund in the province of Scania. He was also one of the initiators behind the masonic lodge in Linköping.

André Oscar Wallenberg, the founder of the banking dynasty

André Oscar Wallenberg was born on the 19th of November, 1816, in Linköping where his father held the position as bishop in Linköping cathedral. Between 1825 and 1832, he attended Linköping trivial school and high school, and in 1832, traveled as a young man to the Caribbean and became a sea cadet on his return. After graduating as a naval officer in Karlskrona in 1835, he served for a few years as a sailor on North American trunk ships and in 1837 he became an officer in the Swedish navy. Four years later he accompanied the "Oxehufvudian expedition" as first mate. The destination was the "La Plata States", that is, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, but because the expedition was poorly led, he left it already in Lisbon. He then spent a year in Spain and France studying languages and law at Grenoble university, and spent a long time in Brest studying their shipyards and workshops.

Wallenberg Mausoleum

In 1850, Wallenberg was commanded to Sundsvall as first lieutenant and head of a boatman company. He swore the burgher oath in Sundsvall, and became a burgher of Sundsvall and later elected to the Swedish parliament. He resigned from the military service in 1851 as first lieutenant. He became friends with the sawmill owner and industrialist Fredrik Bünsow and mediated loans to him at the acquisition of Skönvik in 1856, which became the origin of Skönviks AB, much later a cornerstone of the SCA (company). Wallenberg and Bünsow also founded the city's first brewery, Sundsvalls Ölbryggeri in 1858. Wallenberg also represented the city as a Member of Parliament.

Wallenberg Mausoleum

As a banker, he was a pioneer in Europe. Already during his stay in the United States in 1837, at the time of the Panic of 1837, he wanted to become a banker. He had "learned how banks should not be run". He became Sundsvallsbanken's first manager. In 1856 he formed Stockholms Enskilda Bank, which was modelled after the Scottish banking system, and was until his death its president. He introduced the postal exchange, which simplified the possibilities of transferring money between different locations, still almost unknown outside Sweden, and through a comparatively high deposit rate, the deposit, depreciation and amortisation business developed. The bank's capital was made up of deposits from the public and not, as with previous banks, through private banknote issuance. The business idea was that if the savers left the money tied up in an account for a longer period of time, they would receive a higher interest rate. In addition to the modernisation of banking legislation, Wallenberg contributed to the introduction of the meter system and increased rights for women, among other things by being the first in Europe to allow women to work in banks (Alida Rossander), and allow women to open their own bank accounts.

Wallenberg Mausoleum, Lovön, resting place of André Oscar Wallenberg, his wife Anna, son Marcus Laurentius and his wife Amalia, and great-grandson Marc Wallenberg

A.O., which he is called in the family, also became involved in many industries, including Atlas Diesel, which later would become Atlas Copco and several railway companies. In 1864 he also became a driving force behind the founding of Sweden's first bank limited company, Skandinaviska Kreditaktiebolaget (later Skandinaviska Banken).

It is in bad times profitable business is done.

—André Oscar Wallenberg, in a letter in 1879

He was a co-owner and employee of "Bore" in 1848–51 and provided both pecuniary support and articles for "Stockholmsposten" 1869–70. In Aftonbladet he wrote almost regularly once a week "Ekonomiskt", Economic, between 1865-68. He was a member of the bourgeoisie 1853–63. After the change of representation, he represented the city of Stockholm in the First Chamber from the beginning of the new state until his death.

He died in January 1886 in Stockholm and was buried in the Wallenberg Mausoleum at Malmvik. He was married twice; first to Wilhelmina Catharina Andersson, and in his second to Miss Anna Eleonora Charlotte von Sydow, born 1835, died 1910 in Stockholm, daughter of the commander, later Rear Admiral Johan Gustaf von Sydow and his second wife Eleonora Juliana Wiggman. He had a total of twenty children with three different women.

Late 19th and early 20th century — 2nd generation Wallenbergs

Knut Agathon Wallenberg

Knut Agathon Wallenberg, like his father André Oscar Wallenberg, was trained as a naval officer, at Naval School of Warfare. In 1876, he attended Georgiis' Banking Institution, and then gained an early banking internship in Paris at Credit Lyonnais. Upon his father's death in 1886, Knut Agathon became President of Stockholms Enskilda Bank. This took place at the same time as an intensive investment period in Swedish business began. During this time, Stockholms Enskilda Bank played an innovative role by connecting the French capital market with the demand for credit in the rapidly expanding Swedish industry. The bank played an important role in financing Sweden's breakthrough as an industrial nation. Knut Agathon Wallenberg created a very large fortune and a leading position in Swedish society. He was involved in everything from reconstructions in the mining industry and engineering companies to the exploitation of the ore fields in Norrbotten.

Wallenberg was intensely involved in various societal issues, not least in Stockholm's development. For more than 30 years, he was active in municipal politics in the capital, as a member of the Stockholm City Council 1883–1914. He was also a Member of the Riksdag in the First Chamber for more than a decade, 1907–1919, and Minister of Foreign Affairs during the war years 1914–1917. In his position as Foreign Minister, he was seen, especially by the left, as a counterweight to the German-oriented forces in government. He was the initiator, lender, donor and driving force behind a large number of contemporary construction projects, mainly in Stockholm, including the Royal Swedish Opera, Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm City Hall, Stockholm City Library, Swedish Maritime History Museum and the Swedish Institute in Rome. He was also the initiator and driving force behind the development of the community Saltsjöbaden, its residential town, railway, Grand Hotel Saltsjöbaden, the Church of Revelation where he and his wife Alice are buried in a sarcophagus, and the Observatory.

Grand Hotel Saltsjöbaden built by Knut Agathon Wallenberg and host of three Bilderberg meetings

In 1903, following a proposal from businessmen in the Swedish business community, Knut Agathon Wallenberg donated a large sum to the founding of a business school in Stockholm. The money was used by the School of Business, Economics and Law, which was established in 1906 to found the Stockholm School of Economics in 1909, which is still financed and controlled by the Wallenbergs today and has, since then, sister schools in Riga, Latvia, and St.Petersburg, Russia.

Wallenberg was chairman of the Swedish School of Economics 'Association, the Swedish School of Economics' highest decision-making body, 1906–1938. He was also vice chairman of the board of the Stockholm School of Economics, the university's highest executive body, 1909–1938. He donated funds for the establishment of André Oscar Wallenberg's professorship in economics and banking at the university in 1917, a donation professorship named after his father. The donation professorship still exists today and has been held since 1995 by Jörgen Weibull. He also made large donations to finance the university's new main building at Sveavägen 65 in Stockholm.

British Bank of Northern Commerce was founded in February 1912 by Knut Agathon Wallenberg and Emil Glückstadt of Landmandsbanken together with several other banks including Centralbanken of Norway in Oslo, Banque de Commerce de l'Azoff-Don in St.Petersburg, and Banque de Paris et des Pays Bas in Paris. The purpose of the bank was to facilitate trade between the United Kingdom and northern Europe. The bank financed Finland after the country achieved its independence from Russia in 1917–18. In June 1919 the bank offered the chairmanship of its board to John Maynard Keynes with the assurance that in return for a salary of £2000 the job would only take a morning a week. Keynes had met Knut Agathon Wallenberg and Glückstadt during World War I and believed the offer was attractive. However, Keynes consulted with several bankers in the city and turned the offer. In October 1920 British Bank of Northern Commerce merged with C.J. Hambro & Sons, rebranded Hambros Bank of Northern Commerce. In August 1921 the bank shortened its name to Hambros Bank.

He was chairman of the board of directors of the pension company Alecta between 1916 and 1938.

In 1938, Knut Agathon Wallenberg died. His wife, Alice, and he, had no issue, apart from an adopted daughter, Jeanne, born out of wedlock to Jean Karadja Pasha, and thus half-sister to Constantin Karadja, and chose to bequeath his enormous fortune to the already formed Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.

Marcus Wallenberg Sr.

The tribunal at Wallenbergs' Enskilda Bank in Stockholm. Sitting from left to right: Franz Urbig, Marcus Wallenberg Sr. and Thomas H. McKittrick. Standing from left to right: R. Calissendorff, W. Jordan, G. Lachlan

Knut Agathon Wallenberg's younger brother Marcus Wallenberg Sr. carried on the tradition and took over as the bank's CEO in 1911, replacing his older brother who was appointed Stockholms Enskilda Bank chairman of the board.

Marcus Laurentius Wallenberg Sr. by Anders Zorn

Marcus Wallenberg Sr., commonly called häradshövdingen, the circuit judge, due to his law degree, was the great initiative force in the family's industrial commitments; founding, reorganising and reconstructing companies. In addition to this, had an active career on the world stage, as a member of many committees. He founded Centralbanken of Norway, AB Emissionsinstitutet, Papyrus AB, Swedish Diesel Company, Swedish-Russian-Danish Telephone Aktiebolaget, Mexican Telephone AB Ericsson, reorganising of Nordiska trävaru AB, Kopparbergs & Hofors Sawmill AB, and of Wifstavarfs AB. He founded, together with Sam Eyde and Kristian Birkeland, Norsk Hydro, and not the least, saved ASEA (ABB) from bankruptcy. He was the main representative in Sweden of the modern pursuit of industry concentration under the leadership of the major banks. Together with Erik Johan Ljungberg, he founded the Federation of Swedish Industries.

His international career is characterised by his involvement on many committees. During World War I, he was repeatedly called upon to bring about trade agreements with England and its allies vis-à-vis the Russian Revolution, the Sykes-Picot agreement and the Balfour Declaration. In the winter of 1919, Wallenberg had to monitor Sweden's interests in financial matters on behalf of the Swedish government during the Paris Peace Conference and in 1920 was Sweden's representative at the Brussels Finance Conference. In 1920, he became a member of the League of Nations' newly established Financial Committee, of which he was Chairman from 1921 to 1922. In 1921, Wallenberg founded the Swedish Taxpayers' Association. Wallenberg participated in leading positions in the implementation of the Dawes Plan. He was Chairman of the Committee on the German Industry's encumberment, a Chairman of the Committee for the Arrangement of Germany's Natural Supplies, the arbitrator in disputes between the German government and the Repair Committee, which was responsible for the Allies' establishment of a functional infrastructure between 1925 and 1930. He was responsible for the interpretation of the Young Plan in 1930. Between 1931 and 1934, Marcus Wallenberg Sr. was the Chairman of the Arbitration Court, which dealt with short-term German credits in the establishment of the German moratorium, established in 1932 in Lausanne. In 1931, Marcus Wallenberg Sr., along with Hjalmar Schacht, was also appointed as an expert by the German government to reconstruct the German banking system in order to adapt it to the Bank of International Settlements.

Marcus Wallenberg Sr. sat on the Credits Arbitration Committee with Thomas H. McKittrick and Franz Urbig, which solved disputes between German commercial banks. Marcus Wallenberg Sr. taught McKittrick about the complicated international finances, and was an important mentor to the American throughout his presidency of the Bank for International Settlements, teaching him to play both sides simultaneously in the war, which would guarantee the banks and business empires future existence regardless of the outcome. McKittrick wrote to Marcus Wallenberg Sr. in 1943,

During the three years I have been in Basel, your method of approaching international problems, of which I gained some understanding during our work together in Berlin, has helped me more than I can tell you in dealing with the intricate and delicate questions which have presented themselves to the Bank for International Settlements by reason of changes wrought by the war. The thought of following in your footsteps will provide spur to my will and a goal for my ambition.

— Thomas H. McKittrick, in a letter to Marcus Wallenberg Sr. in 1943

Marcus Wallenberg Sr. has been described as an eager beaver, unprententious and frugal (money would be spent on projects and not consumption), cautious regarding business, whose main focus was on work.

According to the former SVT journalist and authority on Ivar Kreuger, Nikola Majstrovic, in his book, the Truth Behind the Kreuger Crash, Marcus Wallenberg Sr. and the banker J. P. Morgan Jr. paid Josef Stalin to orchestrate the assassination of Ivar Kreuger.

Gustaf Oscar Wallenberg

Marcus's brother Gustaf Oscar Wallenberg, grandfather of Raoul Wallenberg, became a lieutenant in 1882 and a captain in the Swedish navy in 1892. He left the active military service in 1891 to devote himself to business. He was particularly concerned with traffic issues and the improvement of Sweden's shipping connections. He was the managing director of the shipping company, which in 1897 took over the traffic from the Swedish side of the route Trelleborg – Sassnitz and worked within the trade and shipping committee appointed in 1898 to increase the shipping industry and especially for direct Swedish relations with more important transoceanic countries. In 1892, he became the first managing director of Järnvägs AB Stockholm – Saltsjön, but left this post in 1896. Between 1900 and 1907, he belonged to the Swedish parliament's second chamber as a representative of the city of Stockholm. At first, he described himself as independent, but from 1902 he belonged to the Liberal Coalition Party.

Gustaf Oscar Wallenberg and Viceroy Duanfang in Nanjing in 1907

After the dissolution of the union, there was a question of reorganising Sweden's diplomacy, Wallenberg was used for its tasks and in 1906 was appointed envoy to Tokyo, and in 1907, he was also accredited in Beijing. Wallenberg thus became the first permanently stationed Swedish career diplomat in East Asia. At the same time, he was promoted to commander of the 1st degree. On July 2, 1908, Wallenberg concluded a "Treaty of Friendship, Trade and Shipping" with the Chinese Qing Court. The treaty was in line with other treaties that China concluded with several Western powers around the turn of the last century. On the one hand, the Treaty reaffirmed the extensive privileges Sweden had secured with the Treaty of Canton in 1847, on the other hand, the new Treaty provided for the abolition of many of these privileges since China reformed its judiciary. Wallenberg's return trip from Tokyo attracted considerable attention in early 1918. Due to the precarious conditions caused by the war and especially the Russian Revolution, Wallenberg was stopped in Siberia, where he was detained for a long time, and then had to return to Japan and then travel across the United States. He first arrived in Sweden in February 1919. In 1920, Wallenberg was transferred to Istanbul, Turkey, as Minister. He was accredited in Sofia, Bulgaria, and held the position until 1930.

He became well known for his stern refusal to let his daughter Nita Wallenberg marry the artist Nils von Dardel to whom she became secretly engaged in 1917 Dardel was told by her family that he "dithed not meet the requirements to be married into the Wallenberg family". The risk that Dardel would take advantage of being married into the family was considered very high. Nita Wallenberg was forced to burn all of Dardel's letters and was given a place in the families bank business and told to forget her romance. Wallenberg was married twice, with Danish man Carl Johan Kierullf, and later to businessman Carl Axel Söderlund during 1930 to 1944, and had three children.

Mid 20th century — 3rd generation Wallenbergs

Jacob Wallenberg (1892–1980), eldest son of Marcus Wallenberg Sr., became the CEO of Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken in 1927, joined by his younger brother Marcus Wallenberg Jr. as the deputy CEO.

World War II

During World War II, the Wallenberg-owned bank, Stockholms Enskilda Bank, collaborated with the German government, and assisted Nazi-Germany in a variety of ways. Stockholms Enskilda Bank functioned as a purchasing agent for the Bosch corporation, a company that was one of the largest suppliers to Hitler. In its facility outside Berlin, it relied on prisoners of war and concentration camp prisoners as workforce. Wallenbergs pretended to buy Bosch's foreign companies so that they would not run the risk of being confiscated. At the end of the war, the secret contracts were discovered in a basement in Stuttgart by the American forces.

Jacob Wallenberg

The Wallenbergs had been given a hefty commission fee to buy Bosch shares abroad and they, in return, gave Bosch the absolute right to buy them back when the war was over. The Wallenberg-owned ball-bearing multinational, SKF, supplied the German military with ball-bearing, and had a monopoly on it in Europe. SKF's ball-bearings were Sweden's most important strategic contribution to German war production. In the spring of 1944, the Swedish government along with the Wallenbergs, promised the Allies that the export of ball-bearings would cease. However, SKF continued to export. When this could not be done legally, the ball-bearings were smuggled to Germany. As late as 1945, SKF sold ball-bearing steel and ball-bearing machines to Hitler. In addition to ball-bearing, the Wallenbergs' assisted by supplying the Germans with iron-ore from the mines in Northern Sweden and heavy water, aluminium and chemicals for explosives from Norsk Hydro, which had been founded by the Wallenbergs. At the plants in Rjukan in Norway, Norsk Hydro, together with the Swiss firm Escher-Wyss, cooperated on the Nazi-Germany's nuclear weapons program. Marcus Wallenberg Sr. was Chairman of the board of Norsk Hydro as late as 1941. Wallenbergs' Norsk Hydro co-owned the aluminum factory in Heröya, Norway, with IG Farben and the German state. The German state ownership of the aluminum plant came in part from shares stolen by French Jews. In 1943, at least a quarter of the workforce at the factory were forced laborers from the Soviet Union, Norway and Poland. At the same time, there were several Swedish technicians on site in the factory. Wallenberg-owned Stockholms Superfosfat Fabriks AB (today AkzoNobel), shortened Fosfatbolaget, delivered heavy water from their plant in Ljungaverk, Sweden, to the Nazi-Germany nuclear program and the Manhattan project.

Marcus Wallenberg Jr., Curt Nicolin and Åke Vrethem in an airplane over the Andes

Björn Lundvall, President of Ericsson, and Marcus Wallenberg at the island of Armnö, in 1970

Wallenbergs also did business with IG Farben and owned large number of shares in the parent company. The IG Farben patent was hidden in Sweden.

Jacob dealt with the Germans in Berlin, while Marcus dealt with the British and Americans in London and New York, in which cities he was friends with the banking elite. His ex-wife, Dorothy Mackay, had married the London banker Charles Jocelyn Hambro. Jacob was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the German Eagle in Berlin in 1941. The Secretary of the US Treasury, Henry Morgenthau Jr. considered Jacob Wallenberg strongly pro-German, and the US subjected the bank to a blockade that was only lifted in 1947 after the Safehaven-negotiations in Washington, DC, at which the Wallenbergs were defended by John Foster Dulles,. The Dulles brothers were friends of the Wallenberg family.

According to the chief of T-Bureau, Thede Palm, an acquaintant of Marcus Wallenberg Jr., the Wallenberg-owned Stockholm Enskilda Banken undertook to manage the Swedish Central Bank, Riksbanken, and other matters, if necessary - the same bank that stored, during World War II, the Nazi Gold, Raubgold, property confiscated from occupied lands (for example, from Jews), which included gold from molten jewelry, dental gold and gold bars.

Marcus Wallenberg Jr. in a discussion at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) headquarters, in Paris in 1981

Post-war Period

During the 1950s, Marcus Wallenberg Jr. gradually advanced his positions in industry, becoming the King of Industry, the most active person in industrial projects of the 20th century, and the man who laid the foundation for the Swedish industrial miracle. He was involved in everything from civil aviation, military aviation, nuclear power, telecommunication, computer industry, banking sector, steel industry, cars. In a talk in Falun in 1954, in which he laid out his visions, he talked about supersonic planes, expressways, huge parking areas on the outskirts of cities, transistors on metal plates, which would enable "pocket phones", three-dimensional color television, fully automatic factories, mathematics machines, atomic power, radioactive sterilisation of fresh produce, synthetic materials and medicines.

By the time of the anniversary celebration in 1956, Marcus Wallenberg Jr. presided on 15 company boards and in addition had 15 other assignments. In time, he would double those and emerge as one of the most powerful and industrious industrial and banking princes a European country has ever had. In order to find Marcus "Dodde's" Wallenberg Jr's equal, one has to go back to some family head in dynasties such as Medici or Fugger.

— Ronald Fagerfjäll, Den förlorade sonens återkomst – Peter Wallenberg 1926–2015

In the late 50s, Marcus Wallenberg Jr. was active on sixty company boards.

Late 20th century — 4th generation Wallenbergs

The two sons of Marcus Wallenberg Jr., Marc and Peter, joined the family business in 1953, including heir apparent Marc Wallenberg, eldest son of Marcus Wallenberg Jr., who became a deputy CEO at Stockholms Enskilda Bank in 1953, before taking over as CEO in 1958. The brother of Marcus Wallenberg Jr., Jacob Wallenberg, resigned as CEO. The mother of the two, including their sister Ann-Mari, was the Scotswoman, Dorothy Mackay. After the divorce between Marcus Wallenberg and Dorothy, the sons were brought up by their father in Sweden, whereas their sister Ann-Mari, was brought up in United Kingdom by her mother. In his younger years, Peter Wallenberg often referred to his father as cruel, but later changed to very demanding. He was reminded daily of how inept he was by his father, and later in life, either ignored or ridiculed by him in front of other CEOs in the sphere. The favourite son Marc received the same strict upbringing: any sign of weakness would be suppressed.

Marc Wallenberg studied at Harvard Business School and practiced in Geneva, at Crédit Lyonnais and Paribas in Paris, Hambros in London and in New York, at Morgan Stanley, National City (Citibank) and Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Marc spent several summers as a guest of families such as the Morgans and Rockefellers, friends of his father, uncle and grandfather. David Rockefeller was a teenage friend of Marc Wallenberg.

The resignation by Jacob Wallenberg opened a seat on the bank's board of directors to Peter Wallenberg Sr., younger son of Marcus Wallenberg Jr., who turned down the offer, instead entering the industry and the Wallenberg-owned Atlas Copco, spending significant time abroad in South Africa, US and UK. Marcus Wallenberg Jr. pushed through a merger agreement between Stockholms Enskilda Bank and rival Skandinaviska Banken in 1971. Soon after, tragedy struck when Marc Wallenberg committed suicide, observers suggested that the act came possibly because Marc Wallenberg felt himself inadequate to the task of leading what was to become the Scandinavian banking giant Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, having been under much pressure from both his stern father, Marcus Wallenberg Jr., who used to box his ears in front of others, and his uncle, Jacob Wallenberg. Others speculated, including his father, that the prolonged cold and medication with sulfa drugs might have been fatal and resulted in his gun inflicted suicide. The merger went through in 1972. At the time of his death, Marc Wallenberg was on the boards of 67 companies.

Marcus Wallenberg Jr. and his younger son Peter Wallenberg Sr., focused their interests on the family's investment companies, Investor and Providentia. Investor became the family's new flagship business, and, under Marcus Wallenberg Jr.'s leadership began actively promoting the restructuring of most of the industrial companies under its control, replacing board members and promoting younger CEO and other management.

In 1970s, Peter Wallenberg established contact with top of the Chinese Communist Party. Peter was a close friend of Jiang Zemin, who visited Sweden. Peter had also close contact with Hu Jintao who, like Zemin, visited Sweden. Peter hosted a dinner for Hu Jintao.

After World War II, the Wallenbergs continued as usual thanks to the support from their lawyer, later Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, and their representative in the United States, Deputy Secretary of State Robert A. Lovett. Sweden's aristocratic and military elite abandoned its historical German ties for a pro-U.S. stand, whereas the Social-Democratic government officially kept the Swedish West-leaning policy of neutrality, which enjoyed popular support. After the war Marcus Wallenberg Jr. was the "liaison" for the Swedish Chief of Defence General Nils Svedlund and senior U.S. officers. General Svedlund met U.S. State Secretary John Foster Dulles at the home of Wallenberg (Villa Täcka Udden). After the war, the Wallenberg brothers kept their liaison with the Dulles brothers (also with Allan Dulles as Director of the CIA). Similarly in the 1980s, Peter Wallenberg Sr., Marcus's son and successor as head of the Wallenberg empire, acted as a "liaison" between Sweden's Chief of Defense General Lennart Ljung and the U.S. leadership (including Henry Kissinger and George H. W. Bush.). A significant segment of the aristocratic military and industrial elite appeared as an informal network of power with its own loyalties and international ties distinct from the elected government with the ruling Social-Democratic political elite. Here we may find the historical roots of the Swedish dual state.

— Eric Wilson, The Dual State, Parapolitics, Carl Schmitt, and the National Security Complex

Peter Wallenberg Sr. took over after the death of Marcus Wallenberg Jr. in 1982. For many outsiders, the change in leadership marked a final moment in the family's more than 100-year dominance of the Swedish banking and industrial sectors. Yet Peter Wallenberg Sr. rose to the challenge, guiding Investor and Sweden's industry into a new era. In 1990, it was estimated that the family indirectly controlled one-third of the Swedish Gross National Product. Peter Wallenberg Sr. stepped down from leadership of Investor in 1997.

When Henry Kissinger started his consulting firm, Kissinger and Associates, on Park Avenue in New York, the Wallenbergs were his key clients. For a fixed fee of $200,000 per year, Kissinger took upon himself, or with the help of one of his employees, to go through the situation in the world together with company management, and for a fee of $100,000 a month, the firm was also available for special projects.

He could have rested on the extraordinary laurels of his family, but he chose to build and create. He is a man of enormous competence and dimension.

— George H.W. Bush, on Peter Wallenberg Sr.

In 1998, it was reported in media that, George Soros was on a secretive visit to Stockholm and the Wallenberg-owned Stockholm School of Economics to meet representatives of the Wallenberg family. Soros' Quantum Group of Funds had give-up accounts at Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken. The Wallenbergs were the main backers of George Soros' Quantum Group of Funds.

The Wallenberg-owned ABB supplied North Korea with two nuclear power plants in the early 2000s. Weapons experts warned that the waste material from the two reactors could be used for so-called "dirty bombs". Donald Rumsfeld was on the ABB board when the deal was won in 2000.

Early 21st century — 5th generation Wallenbergs

In 2006, the fifth generation took over the Wallenberg sphere. Marcus Wallenberg, son of Marc Wallenberg, Jacob Wallenberg and Peter Wallenberg Jr. sons of Peter Wallenberg Sr.

Marcus Wallenberg and a business delegation to India to meet Prime Minister Modi

In May 2006, Wallenbergs' bank SEB arranged a meeting in Stockholm together with World Economic Forum where experts and policymakers discussed the financial instabilities and the reformation of IMF and World Bank. The hosts were President Marcus Wallenberg and CEO Annika Falkengren.

In late February 2022, it was reported in the media that, Wallenberg-owned Ericsson had bribed the terror organisation ISIL in Iraq.

President Barack Obama in Stockholm, Jacob Wallenberg in the background

In late March, 2022, it became known that technology and equipment from Wallenberg-owned Atlas Copco and SKF had been sold to twelve of the Russian state's nuclear weapons manufacturers.

In April, 2022, Jacob Wallenberg participated in a secret meeting in Helsinki, Finland, with Swedish Minister of Finance Mikael Damberg and the President of Finland, Sauli Niinistö and high military officers, on the issue of NATO membership.

In September, 2022, the Wallenberg-owned Ericsson continued to export telecommunication equipment to Russia after the sanctions, which, according to some sources, could be used for military as well as civilian purposes.

In October, 2022, Jacob Wallenberg, CEOs from the Wallenberg sphere, and the Swedish and Dutch royal families, met at Wallenbergs Grand Hotel Stockholm to discuss the sale of submarine A26 by Saab Group to Netherlands.

Media reported in November, 2022, that, the Wallenberg family played a central role when Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson visited Turkish President Erdogan. CEOs of the Wallenberg sphere, in total CEOs of 6 multinationals in the Wallenberg sphere, were part of the delegation to Turkey, including Håkan Buskhe of Saab Group.

Modern business

The Wallenbergs have a very low-key public profile, eschewing conspicuous displays of wealth. The family motto is Esse, non Videri (Latin for "To be, not to be seen"). Marcus Wallenberg Sr. adopted this motto when he became a Knight and Commander of the Royal Order of the Seraphim in 1931.

Kista Science City, known as Silicon Valley of Europe, the largest Information and Communications Technology (ICT) cluster in Europe, and the world's second largest cluster after Silicon Valley in California, and home to Wallenberg-owned Ericsson Group and ABB Group as well as the Swedish branch of IBM

The Wallenbergs business empire is often referred to as the Wallenberg sphere, the Wallenberg sphere is a large group of companies in which their investment conglomerate, Investor AB, or Foundation Asset Management (FAM), have the controlling interest. In 1916, new legislation made it more difficult for banks to own shares in industrial companies on a long-term basis. Investor was therefore formed as an investment part of Stockholms Enskilda Bank.

Take the Wallenbergs', Sweden's first business family. They made their start in banking, with the Stockholm Enskilda Bank, founded in 1856 by André Oscar Wallenberg. From there they moved out into industry, founding or acquiring an array of the leading multinationals in their country: ASEA (ABB), Electrolux, Ericsson, Saab-Scania, SKF, Stora (Stora Enso). At the end of the 20th century, these firms made up some 40 percent of Sweden's capitalization on the exchange. The Wallenbergs' would not necessarily hold a large part of the stock of these firms, but typically they held most of the votes because they knew how to lend. For the British review the Economist, the Wallenbergs' are the outstanding European industrial dynasty, five generations of highly successful entrepreneurs. For their family historian David Bartal, they are a Japanese-style family, Europe's most powerful of its kind, more discreet than the Agnellis' and richer than the Rothschilds'. Add up the sales of all the companies in the Wallenberg empire at the close of the 20th century, and you will find that one had more than ninety billion dollars a year, ahead of British Petroleum, IBM or General Electrics. It was then Europe's largest private-sector employer by sales after Shell. But look for "Wallenberg Inc." you would be disappointed. Discretion above all.

— David S. Landes, Dynasties: Fortunes and Misfortunes, of the World's Great Family Businesses

Investor

Wallenbergs' investment conglomerate Investor AB has the controlling interest of the multinationals Atlas Copco, ABB, AstraZeneca, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, Epiroc, Ericsson, Nasdaq, Inc., Swedish Orphan Biovitrum, Husqvarna Group, Saab Group, Electrolux, Wärtsilä, Electrolux Professional.

Patricia Industries

Additionally, Investor AB, has controlling interest of Patricia Industries, which has controlling interest of Mölnlycke Health Care, Laborie, Permobil, Sarnova, Piab, Advanced Instruments, BraunAbility, AtlasAntibodies, Vectura, 3 (company).

EQT Partners

Investor AB also has controlling interest of Europe's second-largest equity firm, third-largest in the world, EQT Partners, which, as of October 2022, has majority and minority ownership of 3Shape, Acumatica, Acuon Capital, Aelin Therapeutics, AGS Health, AIG Hospitals, Allee Center, AM-PHarma, Amolyt Pharma, Anticimex, Ardoq, Artios Pharma, Artwall, Arvelle Therapeutics, Atlantic Therapeutics, Atricom and Le Buro, AviadoBio, Azelis, Banking Circle, BBS Automation, Beijer Ref, Binx Health, Bluestep Bank, Bushu Pharmaceuticals, Campus, Cardiac dimensions, Cardior, Cast & Crew, Cerba Healthcare, Certara, CFC, China Shine, CitiusTech, Clarivate Analytics, CMS info Systems, Codemao, Coforge, Colisee, Concept, Covanta, Cue, CYE, Cypress Creek, Dataflow, Deliner Couplers, DELTA Fiber, Deutsche Glasfaser, DNA Script, DOTS Technology, Dunlop, EC-Council, EdgeConneX, Egle Therapeutics, Ellab, Eloxx Pharma, Endotronix, Envirotainer, Epidemic Sound, eTheRNA, Eton, Eureka, evidia, Evommune, Eyesense, Fiberklaar, First Student and First Transit, FoRx Therapeutics, Freepik, Golderma, Ginko, GlobalConnect, GPA Globa, Guardian Shanghai Hygiene Serice Ltd., HMI Group, Horizon Robotics, HotSpot Therapeutics, Hutchmed, Icon Group, Idealista, IFS, IGT Solutions, ILA Vietnam, Illuminoss, ImCheck, Imcyse, Immunic, Impro Precision, Indesso, Innovative Molecules, InstaVolt, iStar Medical, IVC Evidensia, Jakarta Eye Center, JD Health, Karo Pharma, kfzteile24, Kodias Gas Sevices, LLC, Kuoni Group / VFS Global, Kuros, Kyobo Life Insurance, Levande, Lima, Long-Spring Education Group, Lumenis, Lumeon, Magnit, Mambu, ManyPets, Medeye, Melita, Merus, Metlifecare, MHC Asia, Minerva, Mollie, Molslinjen, Muna Therapeutics, Nest, Neurent Medical, New Amsterdam Pharma, Nexon Asia Pacific, Nkarta, Nobi, Nord Anglia, Nouscom, 02 Power, One Projects, ONWARD, Open Systems, Orphazyme, Osmose Utilities Services, Inc., Ottobock, OxThera, Parcel2GO, Parexel, Parques Reunidos, Perfuze, Pharvaris, Pioneer Corporation, Prometric, RBL Bank, Recipharm, Recover, Rich Healthcare, RIMES Technologies, Sagility, SAI360, Saturn, SAUR, Schulke, SEGRA, Sequana Medical, Shengmu Organic Milk, Shinhan Financial Group, SHL Medical, Sitecore, Smart Parc, SNPR Biome, Solarpack, Solera, Southside, SPT Labtech, Stendörren, Storable, Straive, SUSE, Svenska Verksamhetsfastigheter, T-Knife, TBS Energi (fka Toba Bara), TELUS International, The CrownX, thinkproject, Torghatten, Tricor, TRYT, UNnum, UTA, VarmX, VBill, Vectura (Activaro), Vicentr, Vico Therapeutics, Vietnam-USA Society English Centers (“VUS”), Vinted, Virtuos, Virtusa, Vistra, Visus Therapeutics, Vivasure, Vivoryon Therapeutics, Wall Street English, WASH, Waystar, Wolt, WorkWave, World Freight Company, WS Audiology, Xeltis, Xilis, XyloCor Therapeutics, Zayo, Zealand Pharma.

The subsidiary of EQT Partners, EQT Ventures, has ownership of Oden Technologies, Holidu, Risk Methods, Min Doktor, Wolt, Unomaly, Hubs, Service Partner One, Watty, Hubs (formerly 3D Hubs, Peltarion, My Tomorrows, Small Giant Games, Peakon, HackerOne, Token, Codacy, Home, Call Desk, Varjo, Natural Cycles, Permutive, Tinyclues, AnyDesk, Quit Genius, Beamery, Silexica, Baffin Bay Networks, Banking Circle, BIM Object, Supplant, Siilo, Headspin, Handshake, Mental, Acerta Analytics, Wandelbots, dott, Warducks, Popcore, Cytora, Heart Aerospace, Standard Cognition, Darkstore, Beat81, Einride, Let's Do This, Frontify, Netlify, Sonantic, Reworks, Peanut, Anyfin, Willa, Traplight, Seeqc, Vectary, CodeSandbox, Griffin, Supernormal, Wonder, Luko, Curb, Cleo, Kive, Sana Labs, Instabox, Colossi Games, Treecard, Supernova, Playsome, Kitemaker, Airkit, Unmind, Oirigin.bio, Vev, Lenus eHealth, Owwn, Volt, Single.earth, Hiber, Verkor, Depict.AI, Linearity, Formo, Juni, Moralis, Timeless, Candela, Onramper, Billhop, Endgame, Voila, Nothing, Superlist, Knoetic.

FAM

FAM, Foundation Asset Management, has controlling interest of world's largest manufacturer of bearing and seal SKF, fourth-largest paper and pulp multinational Stora Enso, global leader in energy-efficient air treatment and climate solutions Munters, provider of advanced process solutions IPCO (formerly Sandvik Process Systems), one of Sweden's largest private forest owners Kopparfors Skogar, hotel and restaurant business the Grand Group, world's largest manufacturer of metal powders Höganäs AB, global packaging and logistics services provider Nefab, Sweden's leading digital mailbox provider Kivra, and minority ownership of Alfven & Didrikson, AMEXCI, Cinder Invest, Combient, GreenIron, Gropyrus, H2 Green Steel, developer of Quantom Dots and micro LEDs for displays Nanosys, developer of hardware solutions for quantum computing Seeqc, investment firm for early-stage companies 82an Invest.

Organisations

Bilderberg Group

The Wallenbergs were instrumental in its creation and are members of the Steering Committee of Bilderberg Group and have invited CEOs from the Wallenberg sphere and other European companies, Scandinavian bankers, as well as editor-in-chiefs from mass media, Swedish politicians, and scientists to the meeting. The Wallenberg-owned Grand Hotel Saltsjöbaden hosted the meeting thrice, in 1962, 1973 and 1984. Marcus Wallenberg Jr. was a member of the Steering Committee and attended the meeting twenty-two times from the 1950s to 1981, a year prior this his death. His grandson Marcus Wallenberg has attended it eight times, as a member of the Steering Committee, and his other grandson, Jacob Wallenberg, seventeen times, as a member of the Steering Committee.

The Wallenbergs have invited among others Herbert Tingsten, Per Jacobsson, Tage Erlander, Erik Boheman, Olof Palme, Björn Lundvall, Kjell Olof Feldt, Gunnar Sträng, Torbjörn Fälldin, Sten Gustafsson, Björn Svedberg, Hans Werthén, Leif Johansson, Curt Nicolin, Carl Bildt, Percy Barnevik, Michael Treschow, Erik Belfrage, Claes Dahlbäck, Anna Lindh, Leif Pagrotsky, Fredrik Reinfeldt, Anders Borg, Hans Stråberg, Carl-Henric Svanberg, Alexei Mordashov, Jonas Bonnier, Börje Ekholm, Björn Wahlroos, Håkan Bushke, Mikael Damberg, Magdalena Andersson, Conni Jonsson, Johanna Rosén, Annie Lööf, Danica Kragic, Ulf Kristersson, Sara Mazur, Johan Rockström, Lena Hallengren.

Trilateral Commission

Members of the Trilateral Commission include Marcus Wallenberg Jr., Peter Wallenberg Sr., Jacob Wallenberg and Marcus Wallenberg.

Former members of the Wallenberg sphere include former Vice President of SEB, diplomat and advisor for Investor AB and the Wallenbergs, Erik Belfrage, the Irish lawyer, former Investor AB employee, and friend of the Wallenbergs, Peter Sutherland. Current member of the Wallenberg sphere is Magnus Schöldtz.

ICC — International Chamber of Commerce

The Wallenbergs have their own room, the Wallenberg room, in the headquarters of ICC in Paris.

Peter Wallenberg was Immediate Past President of the ICC in Paris. Marcus Wallenberg Jr. was a long serving chairman, and his grandson Marcus Wallenberg is the longest serving chairman in the history of ICC and is now an Honorary Chairman.

European Round Table of Industrialists

Jacob Wallenberg, CEO of Investor and Vice Chairman of FAM, is a member of European Round Table of Industrialists Steering Committee, representing Investor AB. Other people from the Wallenberg sphere at ERT are Börje Ekholm, CEO of Ericsson, Ulrich Spiesshofer, CEO of ABB, Leif Johansson, CEO of Astra Zeneca, CEO of ABB Björn Rosengren.

Former members from the Wallenberg sphere include Curt Nicolin, CEO of ASEA, Carl-Henric Svanberg, and Pehr G. Gyllenhammar, the initiator of the group back in 1983.

Institute of International Finance

Marcus Wallenberg is Vice-Chairman and Treasurer of the Institute of International Finance.

World Economic Forum

Jacob Wallenberg was Vice-Chairman of World Economic Forum and his cousin, Marcus Wallenberg, has been a participant.

ECGI - European Corporate Governance Institute

The Wallenberg-owned Investor AB sponsors ECGI.

Atlantic Council

Jacob Wallenberg is a member of the International Advisory Board.

Properties

• 
  Villa Sirishov, former summer house of André Oscar Wallenberg
• 
  Grand Hotel, Stockholm
• 
  Grand Hotel Saltsjöbaden, built by Knut Agathon Wallenberg
• 
  Hotel Sparrow, Stockholm
• 
  Burmanska Palace
• 
  Bolinderska Palace
• 
  Hotel Lydmar, Stockholm
• 
  Malmvik Estate, Lovön, Stockholm
• 
  Villa Täcka Udden, Djurgården, Stockholm, Wallenbergs' villa for representation
• 
  Villa Wallenberg
• 
  Mansion Wallenberg, purchased by Oscar Wallenberg
• 
  Mansion Barcay, also known as Mansion Wallenberg, purchased by André Oscar Wallenberg
• 
  Saloon in Mansion Wallenberg
• 
  Saloon in Marcus Wallenberg Sr. apartment at Strandvägen in Stockholm.
• 
  Strandvägen 27, former home of Marcus Wallenberg Sr.
• 
  Headquarter of SEB, Stockholm
• 
  Headquarter of Investor AB Blasieholmen in Stockholm, Wallenberg family's investment conglomerate
• 
  Church of Revelation, Saltsjöbaden, built by Knut Agathon Wallenberg
• 
  Stockholm School of Economics, founded and owned by the Wallenbergs
• 
  Brevik Estate
• 
  Wij Estate & Gardens
• 
  Saltsjöbaden locality, founded by Knut Agathon Wallenberg

Quotes

Quotes on the Wallenbergs

Sven Hagströmer asked me if I wanted to join Investor AB at their office in New York. I answered rather stammeringly. This was a dream job. Before being hired, I would be interrogated by old Jacob Wallenberg, who was Chairman of Investor AB and Providentia. He was 80 years old at that time, sitting with dentures in a glass in front of him in the office when I was brought in by the strict caretaker. He looked nice. He spoke about the New York Stock Exchange, which he had traded on as early as the 1920s. Eventually, we got into oil stocks and the new oil discoveries they had found in northern Alaska. Jacob had a large globe in the window that he approached. "Come, boy, I'll show you where the oil wells are." My mother had said that the Wallenbergs did not hire anyone with unpolished shoes, so I had hidden my feet under the chair where I was sitting. When I got up to go to the globe, I got stuck and fell flat on the carpet. "Are you looking for oil, boy?" Jacob Wallenberg said. That was the only question I got during the interrogation.

— Claes Dahlbäck, on Jacob Wallenberg (1892–1980), Summer in P1, Swedish Radio

I had been given a small equity portfolio to manage and would report directly to old Jacob Wallenberg with Telex once a month. Eventually, I learned that all the fine analyses with buy recommendations from the brokerage firms were pretty useless. The recommendations had always leaked out in advance and when the analyses came, the shares had already gone up; it was much better to have a beer at Harry's bar at Hanover square where the best stock traders met. There I learned a lot about the stock market and got a good feel for which stocks to buy. Old Jacob Wallenberg used to come to New York for a couple of weeks in January every year and those were exciting days. "Do you want to have dinner with me tonight?" he asked, "for all my friends are dead." We used to go to his favourite restaurant, La Caravelle (New York City), and when he paid, he always picked up a roll of money with a rubber band around it from his pocket. During these dinners, Jacob told me about New York in the 1920s, when he and the young Rockefeller learned to dance fox trot with each other after work because they were not allowed to dance with the secretaries. Or when he and young Morgan dragged a horse that looked frozen into the bar at Hotel Plaza but got stuck in the revolving door. But above all, he told me about stock deals he had done during the decades. What a school for a young trader! Jacob Wallenberg is the most skilled trader I have met, in the same class as today's great guru Warren Buffett in the US. Jacob had a knowledgeable economic understanding of macro economics, with money supply, interest rates and currencies, paired with the analyst's detailed knowledge of the companies. He knew exactly how many oil deposits Exxon had or how many restaurants Howard Johnson operated. Added to that, an incredible sense of timing.

— Claes Dahlbäck, on Jacob Wallenberg (1892–1980), Summer in P1, Swedish Radio

Investor's boss, Carl de Geer, was a very active and charming man with a lot of iron in the fire. Since he was short of time, he asked me to go up to old Jacob Wallenberg on Friday afternoons and report on the week's business. This was for me one of the highlights of the week where JW, as we called him, often held a monologue and told me what had happened on the markets around the world. I continued to do so even after Carl de Geer had passed away so tragically in the spring of 1978. One Friday afternoon in April, just before Investor's Annual General Meeting, JW said to me: "Yes, Claes, the clock has struck." I said, "what happened?" He replied, "Today the "Monk" came into my room." Jacob was referring to Hans Munck af Rosenschiöld, who was one of his brother's, Marcus, confidants. Jacob said, "my brother thinks I'm too old to be a Chairman and wants to take over. I'm 86 so there's something to it. He's only 79, a pure child. But you should know, he knows nothing about stocks! So teach him!" A few weeks later, the day before Investor's general meeting, I was summoned to Marcus Wallenberg Jr., commonly called MW, at the representation villa Täcka Udden at Djurgården in Stockholm. I had met MW a few times before over the years, did not really know him, just had a lot of respect. "My brother says you're good. And the "monk" agrees. I see you've worked in New York. What was the Dow Jones index yesterday?" "830", I said. "Well, then we try with you as CEO, but remember that I make the decisions." I thought to myself, "these brothers do not ask so many questions."

— Claes Dahlbäck, on Jacob Wallenberg (1892–1980) and Marcus Wallenberg Jr., Summer in P1, Swedish Radio

Marcus Wallenberg Jr. worked around the clock. He is said to have slept only four hours a night and could call at any time, preferably in the middle of the night. He was fantastically dynamic with an energy that could move mountains. Knowledgeable, experienced and cunning. He was incredibly curious about everything and had an immense interest in technology and innovations. He put constant pressure on his employees, we called it the MW pressure, which would always be on the cutting edge. This sometimes included insults without really understanding why. MW used to call me at any time and ask about Investor's equity portfolio. How many shares we had, when they were bought, etc. Since many of the holdings were old, often from the 1920s and bought for a few pennies, I could not understand the interest. But it was probably part of the MW pressure, that one should always be prepared. Eventually, I learned to handle this with cheat sheets in my pockets. After a few years, MW and I became really good friends and he often asked me to accompany him at short notice on his travels, mostly to New York. MW was incredibly influential. He knew people all over the world, could call anyone. On the trips, he booked the meetings when we arrived. In New York for example, we had meetings with bankers, industrialists and politicians; Henry Kissinger, Walter Wriston, who was head of Citibank and later Minister of Finance, or one of Rockefellers. They always made room for MW in their calendars when we got there and received us with incredible kindness.

— Claes Dahlbäck, on Marcus Wallenberg Jr., Summer in P1, Swedish Radio

Marcus "Dodde" Wallenberg is the Wallenberg who receives most praise from those who knew him; people apostrophe his charm, his ingenuity, his negotiation skills and his ability to solve problems. Some want to describe him as the foremost financier of this century. But there is a terrifying dark side. He has also been described as one who played the role of an American Marine Corps sergeant, whose main task is to kill the soldiers' personalities in order to then be able to shape them as he pleases. He often launched verbal attacks on the employees. "He was hard as stone," an employee said. He ruled by instilling fear. Sven Fagerberg portrayed him as a boss, always escorted by his torpedoes. But the quality of the business leaders who passed revue in the Wallenberg sphere during Marcus Wallenberg Jr.'s time was impressive nonetheless. He also established norms in the group that will survive him for decades.

— Olof Ehrencrona, on Marcus Wallenberg Jr.

I think the ICC, which the Wallenberg family have done so much to build, is really, I would say, the voice of global business.

— Victor Fung, on the Wallenbergs and their role in ICC

Quotes by the Wallenbergs

It is the saddest day of my professional life.

— Jacob Wallenberg, on Brexit, Svenska Dagbladet, SvD

We discussed all major issues with [EU] Commissioners. The purpose of this visit is not to lobby for any particular issue, but that we are informed, and that we open up for a further dialogue. We did a similar thing in Washington last year with large customers, which was about the US's relations with China.

— Jacob Wallenberg, on his visit to Brussels and the lobbying around the Volvo-Scania deal in 2000, inviting a number of MEPs, led by European Commission President Romani Prodi, to hold talks at the Conrad Hotel.

Power? The word has a very negative connotation. We call it responsibility.

— Peter Wallenberg Sr., Svenska Dagbladet, SvD, 1998

The unemployment insurance fund is the largest parachute we have in the country and we should abolish it. Abolishing the unemployment insurance fund would be a good way to get people to commit themselves to finding new ways of income.

— Peter Wallenberg Sr., at Investor AB General Meeting, April, 1998

No business is so bad that it cannot be put back on its feet with the right leadership, but no business is so good that it cannot be destroyed by a bad leader.

— Marcus Wallenberg Sr.

To move from the old to what is about to come is the only tradition worth keeping.

— Marcus Wallenberg Jr., in a letter to his brother Jacob Wallenberg (1892-1980) in 1946 in an attempt to convince him to leave the family's interests in the railroad industry and focus instead on founding the airline SAS Group.

I have to tell you a story of how difficult it is with trade. My family was involved in the International Chamber of Commerce when it was founded in 1919. It was founded because of the World War I, and a number of business people had come to the conclusion that the way to avoid war was more trade. More international and commercial exchange will lead to the fact that people don't want to spoil those commercial relationships and therefore will avoid conflict. That was the whole idea. My great-uncle, Jacob Wallenberg (1892-1980) was hosting one of the big conferences in 1944 in Stockholm and they were talking about, this was just before the crisis, protectionism was a looming threat in the mid 40s, and it also resulted in very bad economic times. You might have thought that the system would have learned about the drawbacks of this bad economic development and the need for non-protectionistic measures. Fifty years later, my uncle (Peter Wallenberg Sr.) was a Chairman of the ICC, and he went into the desk of my great-uncle who had made a speech in 1944, found his speech, brought it to the dinner, read it, and everybody thought it was a speech that had been drawn up in 1984. So it is like an endless job to be associated with ICC.

— Marcus Wallenberg, in a discussion with Victor Fung at Asian Global Institute.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Wallenberg family

64. Hans Persson 32. Maintaining farmer at Herseberga, Pehr Hansson 65. Kristin Bengtsdotter 16. Sheriff, Jacob Wallberg 66. Maintaining farmer, Jacob Schuut 33. Kerstin Jacobsdotter Schuut 67. Kerstin Ingolfsdotter 8. Lector of theology, Marcus Wallenberg 68. Burgher of Vadstena, Jöns Tillberg 34. Vicar, Markus Tillberg 69. Kerstin Marcusdotter 17. Anna Kristina Tillberg 70. Vicar, Samuel Mollenius 35. Anna Maria Molenia 71. Kerstin Mollerus 4. Bishop of Linköping, Marcus Wallenberg 72. Farmer, Amund Nilsson 36. Farmer, Lars Amundsson 73. Elisabet Larsdotter 18. Vicar, Erik Kinnander 74. Farmer, Erik Christian Persson 37. Maria Eriksdotter 75. Sara Henmingsdotter 9. Sara Helena Kinnander 76. NN Philander 38. Sheriff, Magnus Philander 77. NN 19. Catharina Maria Pilandra 78. Vicar, Paulus Ekerman 39. Apollonia Ekerman 79. Maria Löfgren 2. André Oscar Wallenberg 80. Vicar, Eilert Barfoth 40. Vicar, Henrik Barfoth 81. Edith Jacobsdatter Bang 20. Vicar, Eilert Hilarius David Magnus Barfoth 82. Vicar, Göran Warberg 41. Agneta Warberg 83. Christina Pedersdatter 10. Professor of anatomy & medicine, Andreas Barfoth 84. NN Nelander 42. Vicar, Andreas Johanni Nelander 85. NN 21. Anna Nelander 86. Vicar, Johannes Magni Rydelius 43. Margareta Rydelia 87. Katarina Hornera 5. Anna Laurentia Barfoth 88. Malmö's largest landowner, Christian Jönsson Bager 44. Merchant of Malmö, Jöns Bager 89. Christina Hakansdatter 22. Merchant, Jacob Jönsson Bager 90. NN Brun 45. Margareta Brun 91. NN 11. Elsa Bager 92. NN Hammarlund 46. Grandburgher of Malmö, Lars Hammarlund 93. NN 23. Maria Laurentia Hammarlund 94. Vicar, Lars Nobelius 47. Helena Maria Nobelia 95. Marna Berner 1. Marcus Laurentius Wallenberg Sr. 96. NN 48. Merchant, owner of salt factory, David von Sydow 97. NN 24. Sobrecargo & brewer, Christian Fredrik von Sydow 98. NN Burckhard 49. Anna Maria Burckhard 99. NN 12. Vicar & MP, Johan Peter von Sydow 100. NN Wahlsten 50. Commissar, Sven Wahlsten 101. NN 25. Christina Wahlsten 102. Gudmund Berg 51. Maria Gummesdotter 103. NN 6. Rear admiral, Johan Gustaf von Sydow 104. Olof Rudbeck 52. Olof Rudbeck the Younger 105. Vendela Lohrman 26. Head forester, Olof Fredrik Rudbeck, noble family no.1637 106. Forester, Carl Fredrik Rotenburg to Kydingeholm, ennobled no.1267 53. Charlotta Rotenburg, noble family no. 1267 107. Christina Rudbeckia 13. Charlotta Elisabeth Rudbeck 108. Merchant and alderman of Marstrand, Olof Hansson 54. Director of Söderfors factory, progenitor of noble family no.2308 af Ström, Per Olofsson Ström 109. Barbro Tomasdotter 27. Eva Barbro Ström 110. Chief District judge, Carl Broman to Harg & Gysinge, ennobled no. 1166 55. Elisabet Maria Broman 111. Eva Hök 3. Anna Eleonora Charlotta von Sydow 112. Goldsmith, Anders Wiggman 56. Goldsmith, Hans Wiggman 113. NN 28. Johan Wiggman 114. NN Kiällman 57. Birgitta Elisabet Kiällman 115. NN 14. Steward, chief military accountant , Johan Wiggman 116. NN 58. Vicar, Sven Nicolaus Höök 117. NN 29. Margareta Höök 118. NN 59. Sara Cervina 119. NN 7. Eleonora Juliana Wiggman 120. Circuit judge, Johan Hellenstierna, noble family no.1321 60. Military officer, Sven Gabriel Hellenstierna, noble family no.1321 121. Christina Arendt 30. Captain, Carl Magnus Hellenstierna, noble family no.1321 122. Landowner, Lord Magnus Stråle af Ekna, noble family no.87 61. Ingrid Maria Stråle af Ekna 123. Catharina Zelow, noble family No.272 15. Carolina Hellenstierna, noble family No.1321 124. Chief constable & inspector, Peter Bexell 62. Captain, Israel Brexell 125. Margareta Barck 31. Eleonora Catharina Brexell 126. Captain, Tomas Georg Rudebeck, noble family no.872 63. Françoise Rudebeck 127. Eleonora Leijoncrona, noble family No.591

Notable family members

Marcus Wallenberg 1744–1799

Jacob Wallenberg 1746–1778

Marcus Wallenberg 1774–1833

Catharina Wilhelmina Andersson

André Oscar Wallenberg 1816–1886

Anna Eleonora Charlotta von Sydow

Knut Agathon Wallenberg 1853–1938

Gustaf Wallenberg 1863–1937

Marcus Wallenberg Sr. 1864–1943

Oscar Wallenberg 1872–1939

Axel Fingal Wallenberg 1874–1963

Victor Wallenberg 1875–1970

Raoul Oscar Wallenberg 1888–1912

Jacob Wallenberg 1892–1980

Marcus Wallenberg Jr. 1899–1982

Carol Wallenberg 1904–1985

Gustaf Wally 1905–1966

Henry Wallenberg 1908–1993

Raoul Wallenberg 1912–c.1947

Peder Wallenberg 1935–

Marc Wallenberg 1924–1971

Peter Wallenberg Sr. 1926–2015

Marcus Wallenberg 1956–

Axel Wallenberg 1958–2011

Jacob Wallenberg 1956–

Peter Wallenberg Jr. 1959–

• Marcus Wallenberg (1744–1799), priest, lector of theology
  • Marcus Wallenberg (1774–1833), nephew of Jacob Wallenberg, bishop in Linköping.
    • André Oscar Wallenberg (1816–1886), son of Marcus Wallenberg, naval officer, newspaper tycoon, banker and politician.
      • Knut Agathon Wallenberg (1853–1938), son of André Oscar Wallenberg, banker and politician.
      • Gustaf Wallenberg (1863–1937), son of André Oscar Wallenberg, diplomat.
        • Raoul Oscar Wallenberg (1888–1912), son of Gustaf Wallenberg, naval officer.
          • Raoul Wallenberg (1912–c. 1947), son of Raoul Oscar Wallenberg, diplomat.
      • Marcus Wallenberg Sr. ("Häradshövdingen") (1864–1943), son of André Oscar Wallenberg, banker, industrialist and politician.
        • Sonja Emilie Wallenberg (1891–1970), daughter of Marcus Wallenberg Sr. and Amalia Wallenberg (née Hagdahl), married to count Carl Johan Magnus Johan Björnstjerna.
          • Baroness Ulla Anna Charlotta Björnstjerna (1916-)
          • Baroness Elizabeth Helena Amalia Charlotta Björnstjerna (1917–2010)
          • Baroness Sonja Monica Charlotta Björnstjerna (1920–1955)
          • Baroness Sonja Ingeborg Charlotta Björnstjerna
        • Jacob Wallenberg ("Juju") (1892–1980), son of Marcus Wallenberg Sr., naval officer, banker, industrialist.
          • Peder Wallenberg (1935–), son of Jacob Wallenberg, architect, businessman.
            • Fredrik Wallenberg
            • Marie Wallenberg
            • Peder Wallenberg
            • Nicholas Wallenberg
            • Anna Wallenberg
            • Peder Wallenberg Jr.
            • Christopher Wallenberg
            • Alexander Wallenberg
        • Andrea Wallenberg (1894–1980), daughter of Marcus Wallenberg Sr. and Amalia Wallenberg (née Hagdahl), married to count Hakon Mörner af Morlanda
          • Countess Gunilla Bonde Mörner af Morlanda ("Grotte") (1919–1994)
          • Countess Caroline Mörner af Morlanda ("Gyllenkrok") (1922–2004)
        • Gertrud Wallenberg (1895–1983), daughter of Marcus Wallenberg Sr. and Amalia Wallenberg (née Hagdahl), married to count Ferdinand Maria Emmerich Eduard Arco auf Valley, and partner of statesman and baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim
        • Ebba Wallenberg (1896–1960), daughter of Marcus Wallenberg Sr. and Amalia Wallenberg (née Hagdahl), married to count Carl Gustaf Bonde af Björnö(1872–1957)
          • Count Peder Carlsson Bonde af Björnö (1923–2013)
        • Marcus Wallenberg Jr. ("Dodde") (1899–1982), son of Marcus Wallenberg Sr., banker and industrialist.
          • Marc Wallenberg ("Boy-Boy") (1924–1971), son of Marcus Wallenberg Jr., banker.
            • Marcus Wallenberg ("Husky") (1956–), son of Marc Wallenberg, banker and industrialist.
              • Marc Wallenberg (born 1986)
              • Elsa Wallenberg
              • Fred Wallenberg
              • Lukas Wallenberg
            • Axel Wallenberg ("Vava") (1958–2011), son of Marc Wallenberg, businessman.
              • Martina Wallenberg
          • Peter Wallenberg Sr. ("Pirre") (1926–2015), son of Marcus Wallenberg Jr., banker and industrialist.
            • Jacob Wallenberg (1956–), son of Peter Wallenberg Sr., banker and industrialist.
              • Lovisa Wallenberg Cavalli (born 1988)
              • Jacob Wallenberg Jr. (born 1992)
              • Alice Wallenberg (born 1989)
            • Andrea Wallenberg
            • Peter Wallenberg Jr. ("Poker") (1959–), son of Peter Wallenberg Sr., businessman and racing driver.
      • Oscar Wallenberg (1872–1939), son of André Oscar Wallenberg, naval officer and businessman.
        • Carol Wallenberg (1904–1985), son of Oscar Wallenberg, businessman.
      • Axel Wallenberg (1874–1963), son of André Oscar Wallenberg, industrialist and diplomat.
        • Gustaf Wally (1905–1966), son of Axel Wallenberg, dancer, actor and theatre manager.
      • Victor Wallenberg (1875–1970), son of André Oscar Wallenberg, sports shooter.
        • Henry Wallenberg (1908–1993), son of Victor Wallenberg, consul general in Monaco.
• Jacob Wallenberg (1746–1778), sailor, clergyman and author.

External links

• Wallenberg Family Tree on Kindo
• Investor AB and Wallenberg family history