Home > Ivar Kreuger

He was born in Kalmar, the eldest son of the industrialist and consul Ernst Kreuger and his wife Jenny. In school Ivar skipped ahead two classes to graduate at age 16, continuing his studies at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm where he graduated with two Master's degrees from the faculties of mechanical and civil engineering, at the age of 20.

From the turn of the century he spent seven years travelling and working abroad before returning home to form construction firm Kruger & Toll , with fellow engineer Paul Toll . The firm was a success and won prestigious contracts like the construction of the Stockholm Stadium and the department store Nordiska Kompaniet in Stockholm.

In 1917 Kreuger formed Svenska Tändsticks AB ( Swedish Match), which by expanding through acquisition of national monopolies became the worlds largest match manufacturer. He set up an affiliate to Kruger & Toll in the United States and formed the International Match Corporation which eventually came to control two thirds of the world production in matches.

After founding the pulp manufacturer SCA in 1929Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s Years: 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 See also 1929 in aviation 1929 in film 1929 in literature 1929 in mu Kreuger were able to acquire the majority shares in telephone company EricssonEricsson Telefonaktiebolaget L. Ericsson is a Swedish telecommunications equipment manufacturer, founded in 1876 as a telegraph equipment repair shop by Lars Magnus Ericsson. In the early 20th century, Ericsson dominated the world market for manual teleph, the mining company Boliden , and major interests in the ball bearing manufacturer SKFSKF Svenska Kullagerfabriken AB later AB SKF is a Swedish company founded in 1907. It manufactures roller ball bearings. The business founded on Sven Wingquist's 1907 patent was successful from early on, and by 1910 the company had 325 employees, a daught, the bank Skandinaviska KreditaktiebolagetSkandinaviska Banken literally the Scandinavian Bank was a Swedish bank founded in Gothenburg, 1864. Its foundation coincided with the political aspirations of the Scandinavian movement, which sought to unite Sweden, Norway and Denmark into a single kingd as well as others. Abroad he acquired Deutsche Unionsbank in GermanyThe Federal Republic of Germany ( German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland is one of the world's leading industrialized countries, located in the middle of the European Union. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark and the Baltic Sea, to the east and Union de Banques á Paris in FranceThe French Republic or France ( French: Republique francaise or France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents. and by 19311931 is the common year starting on Thursday. see link for calendar) Events January January 4 Female aviator Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa January 6 Thomas Edison submits his last patent application. January 22 Sir Isaac Isaacs sworn in as the an estimated 200 companies were controlled by Kreuger. However the stock market crash in New YorkBlack Thursday or the Wall Street Crash refers to October 24, 1929, the day when the New York Stock Exchange crashed, leading eventually to the Great Depression. The crash followed a speculative boom which had taken hold in the late 1920s, which had led m in 1929 turned out to be a major factor in the liquidity crisis that would be fatal to both Kreuger and his Empire.

At the peak of his career the Kreuger fortune was estimated at a value of 30 Billion Swedish Krona in 1929, equivalent to approximately 100 Billion USD in 2000. In the same year the total loans made by Swedish banks were barely 4 Billion SEK, and an average worker made an annual salary of 3 195 SEK.

On March 12, 1932 Ivar Kreuger was found dead in a hotel room in Paris. Evidence suggested that he had shot himself, committing suicide rather that to face his creditors. There were claims (or rather conspiracy theories) that Kreuger's wounds had not been self inflicted, but the death nevertheless precipitated the Kreuger Crash which hit both investors and the group companies hard. Several thousand Swedes lost their life savings in the Kreuger Crash.

He is interred in the Norra begravningsplatsen in Stockholm.