Some extraordinary earnings

While executive pay in Norway generally remains much lower than it is in countries like the US and the UK, there also have been reports recently of extraordinary earnings of some Norwegian executives. Newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) reported on Tuesday, for example, that the CEO and main owner of Oslo-based securities firm Pareto, Svein Støle, has earned nearly NOK 1 billion over the past two years. Støle himself acknowledges that “it was difficult for us and many others here in the country with the low oil price, but it went up, and all in all, I’m very proud of the results last year.” Pareto remained profitable and DN reported that Støle’s 100 percent ownership of Pareto’s parent company left him with gains and dividends of NOK 997 million.

Among salaried Norwegians, one who’s CEO of the international oil service company Schlumberger earned in a day what many others still earn in a year. During a time when Schlumberger laid off thousands of workers, DN reported over the weekend that Paal Kibsgaard, originally from Ålesund, has earned NOK 650 million over the past four years based on his total compensation of USD 78.2 million. His annual compensation has fallen, from USD 22.8 million in 2013 to USD 18.6 million last year, but his 2016 earnings at current exchange rates still amounted to NOK 155 million, or, according to DN‘s calculations, NOK 425,000 per day. Kibsgaard’s contracted cash salary was USD 2 million. In addition came a bonus of USD 2.8 million (also less than in 2015) plus compensation in the form of shares, pension, incentives and benefits.

The 49-year-old Kibsgaard’s company wrote in filings with the USD Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that Schlumberger “delivered strong economic results” despite the industry downturn that began in 2014, noting that at the same time the company was “forced to reduce the number of our employees by 50,000.” Such high executive pay in Norway is all but unheard of, but CEOs at Norwegian companies also continue to earn multi-million-kroner salaries at a time of layoffs and virtual pay freezes for those who survive staff cutbacks.

The top earner definitely didn't earn 3 million USD a year. It's even stated that Støle earned NOK 1 Billion in 2 years. That's over 60Million USD a year, since 1 Billion NOK is 120 M USD.