Its hard to have guessed that Santanders Ana Botn, a trailblazer in global finance, was considering being a journalist or a spy before becoming a banker. Or that UBSs boomerang CEO, Sergio Ermotti, was once a talented soccer player, while Ryanairs Michael OLeary hated accountancy.
Those are just some of the candid tidbits the worlds most important leaders divulge in their interviews with the Norwegian sovereign wealth funds chief, Nicolai Tangen, on his podcast, In Good Company.
His roster of distinguished guests includes the CEOs of companies that the $1.6 trillion sovereign fund owns or invests in. Norges Bank Investment Management, as its formally known, manages Norways massive oil and gas revenues. In 2023, the fund made $213 billion in profits.
Its tentacles reach some of the worlds largest companies, from Apple to LVMH and Nestl, totaling nearly 9,000 companies worldwide. With that influence comes direct access to engage with the worlds top leaders.
Tangens aim with his prominent guests is to have them serve a bit of their secret sauce to listeners, he said in a video introducing the podcast.
We aim to be the most transparent fund in the world, Tangen told the Wall Street Journal in an interview. I thought, you know, we own all these companies, we own big stakes, we actually have access to these CEOs.
Indeed, the guest list includes illustrious executives from various industriesand notably some who rarely offer public interviews, let alone one-off podcast episodes.
Take this weeks guest, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Musk weighed in on the rapid pace of artificial intelligence breakthroughs, his hurdles with building xAI, and the prospect of colonizing Mars in conversation with Tangen.
The Norges Bank head launched the podcast in 2022, with former BP chief Bernard Looney as his first guest.
At the start of each episode, Tangen opens with a line on the stakeoften worth billions of dollarsthat the sovereign wealth fund holds in the company whose CEO hes interviewing.
When chatting with the different chiefs, Tangen asks a mix of hard-hitting and insightful questions.
In one of the early episodes, Tangen asked Goldman Sachs David Solomon if being a DJ helped him be a better leader. Shortly after, he also probed Solomon on whether he thinks being CEO and chair of the banks board is the right structure.
In a separate episode, Tangen asked Ryanairs Michael OLeary, whom he described as one of the funniest people hes ever met, whether offering rock-bottom fares is good for the environment.
Even though the oil funds podcast features celebrated (and sometimes controversial) leaders on its invitee list, it still remains far from well-known. It has about 3 million downloads in total, the Norwegian fund told the Journal.
Still, the podcast is an important undertaking for Norges Bank, with a team (sometimes including portfolio managers) tasked with preparing for interviews. And perhaps bringing in corporate juggernauts to answer candid questions is a win in itself.
Go here to read the rest:
- Watch Elon Musk's Optimus Gen 2 robot in action - Livescience.com - December 15th, 2023 [December 15th, 2023]
- Jones is one of several social media pariahs back on X - NPR - December 15th, 2023 [December 15th, 2023]
- Elon Musk unbans conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and hosts interview with him on X - The Verge - December 15th, 2023 [December 15th, 2023]
- Elon Musk Wants You to Pay to Go to His New University - The New Republic - December 15th, 2023 [December 15th, 2023]
- Elon Musk's Mommy Steps In to Protect Her Beautiful Boy - Futurism - December 15th, 2023 [December 15th, 2023]
- What the Hell Is Elon Musk Doing at X? 5 Theories of the Case - New York Magazine - December 15th, 2023 [December 15th, 2023]
- Elon Musk Brings Conspiracy Theorist Alex Jones Back to X - The New York Times - December 15th, 2023 [December 15th, 2023]
- An Accounting of How Elon Musk Changed Texas in 2023 - Texas Monthly - December 15th, 2023 [December 15th, 2023]
- 'Leave the World Behind' Fans Mock Elon Musk's Comments on Tesla - Esquire - December 15th, 2023 [December 15th, 2023]
- Elon Musk restores X account of Alex Jones, right-wing conspiracy theorist banned for abusive behavior - CBS News - December 15th, 2023 [December 15th, 2023]
- Elon Musk will have to testify in SEC's Twitter probe after all - Engadget - December 15th, 2023 [December 15th, 2023]
- Elon Musk plans to open a new university in Austin: What we know - Austin American-Statesman - December 15th, 2023 [December 15th, 2023]
- Days after announcing a deal with SpaceX, Amazon seeks to dismiss lawsuit claiming it snubbed the Elon Musk space company last year - Fortune - December 15th, 2023 [December 15th, 2023]
- Elon Musk restores X account of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones - NPR - December 15th, 2023 [December 15th, 2023]
- My Surprisingly Unbiased Week With Elon Musk's 'Politically Biased' Chatbot - WIRED - December 15th, 2023 [December 15th, 2023]
- How to Reveal the Many Sides of Elon Musk: The Art of the Interview - The New York Times - December 15th, 2023 [December 15th, 2023]
- Elon Musk plans to open a new university in Austin - The Texas Tribune - December 15th, 2023 [December 15th, 2023]
- Elon Musk wanted India to cut EV import tariffs before he opens a factory there. It looks like its not happeningfor now - Fortune - December 15th, 2023 [December 15th, 2023]
- Elon Musk plans to launch a university in Austin, Texas - CBS News - December 15th, 2023 [December 15th, 2023]
- Netflix Resumes Advertising on X After Elon Musk Controversy - TheWrap - December 15th, 2023 [December 15th, 2023]
- Twitter Apparently Lost $1.5 Billion in Ad Revenue as Elon Musk Flailed - Futurism - December 15th, 2023 [December 15th, 2023]
- Elon Musk Is Getting Absolutely Destroyed in Sweden - Futurism - December 15th, 2023 [December 15th, 2023]
- Elon Musk will see you in court: The top Twitter and X Corp. lawsuits of 2023 - Ars Technica - December 31st, 2023 [December 31st, 2023]
- Elon Musk Plans To Open A Sci-Tech University in Texas - knue.com - December 31st, 2023 [December 31st, 2023]
- The 7 most expensive things Elon Musk owns is mind-blowing - Supercar Blondie - December 31st, 2023 [December 31st, 2023]
- MrBeast refuses Elon Musk's request to upload his videos on X, claims it wouldn't fund a "fraction" of them - Sportskeeda - December 31st, 2023 [December 31st, 2023]
- Elon Musk responds to apocalyptic Tesla moment from Netflix thriller: 'Even if the world goes fully Mad Max' - Yahoo News - December 31st, 2023 [December 31st, 2023]
- Topless Massages To Private Flights: Top Wildest CEO Moments Of 2023 - NDTV - December 31st, 2023 [December 31st, 2023]
- Musk's xAI Incorporates as Benefit Corporation With 'Positive Impact' Goal - The Information - December 31st, 2023 [December 31st, 2023]
- SpaceX, Tesla highlights and plans on X; Starship tests successful - Interesting Engineering - December 31st, 2023 [December 31st, 2023]
- Ultra Hardcore | Ben Tarnoff - The New York Review of Books - December 31st, 2023 [December 31st, 2023]
- All the Elon Musk controversies we've seen this year - Euronews - December 31st, 2023 [December 31st, 2023]
- Elon Musk is shaping up to be this generation's Henry Ford ? for better or worse - Autoblog - December 31st, 2023 [December 31st, 2023]
- Elon Musk Is The New Republic's 2023 Scoundrel of the Year - The New Republic - December 31st, 2023 [December 31st, 2023]
- Tesla won over fans of electric vehicles. Now Elon Musk and company have a bigger challenge: convincing everyday car buyers - Fortune - December 31st, 2023 [December 31st, 2023]
- Best books of 2023 with a twist from Elon Musk biography to Yellow Face - Post Magazine - December 31st, 2023 [December 31st, 2023]
- How Corporate America's Obsession With Creativity Wrecked the World and Brought Us Elon Musk - The New Republic - December 31st, 2023 [December 31st, 2023]
- Elon Musk funds Gina Carano's lawsuit against Disney over 'Mandalorian' firing - The Washington Post - February 12th, 2024 [February 12th, 2024]
- Russian forces using Elon Musk's Starlink in occupied areas, Ukraine says - The Australian Financial Review - February 12th, 2024 [February 12th, 2024]
- Elon Musk is backing Mandalorian actor's suit against Disney - The Verge - February 12th, 2024 [February 12th, 2024]
- Judge Gives Musk a Week to Agree to SEC Deposition - The Daily Beast - February 12th, 2024 [February 12th, 2024]
- How Elon Musk's Twitter Ultimatum Brought Employees to Their Breaking Point: People Were Emotionally a Wreck - Vanity Fair - February 12th, 2024 [February 12th, 2024]
- 'Elon Musk Would Probably Disagree,' But Expert Says 'Investors Don't See Tesla As An AI Play Like Most O - Benzinga - February 12th, 2024 [February 12th, 2024]
- Will Elon Musk blow up telecom? - Light Reading - February 12th, 2024 [February 12th, 2024]
- Elon Musk Backs Gina Caranos Disney Suit Over Mandalorian Exit - The New York Times - February 12th, 2024 [February 12th, 2024]
- What Tim Cook and Apple knew that Elon Musk didnt about executive compensation: It can be smart to take less money - Fortune - February 12th, 2024 [February 12th, 2024]
- Elon Musk says he'll give up phone, use X for calls - Quartz - February 12th, 2024 [February 12th, 2024]
- Court orders Elon Musk to testify in the SEC's investigation of his Twitter takeover - Engadget - February 12th, 2024 [February 12th, 2024]
- Elon Musk's Tesla paycheck was $55.8 billion. A judge had a problem with that - NPR - February 12th, 2024 [February 12th, 2024]
- Elon Musk Bought Twitter After Then-CEO Refused To Ban Jet Tracker: Report - NDTV - February 12th, 2024 [February 12th, 2024]
- If Elon Musk and His Buddies Think Delaware Is Too Strict, We've Got a Problem Mother Jones - Mother Jones - February 12th, 2024 [February 12th, 2024]
- Elon Musk is rumored to go to India, sparking speculation of Tesla factory announcement - Electrek - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Elon Musk just gave another Mars speechthis time the vision seems tangible - Ars Technica - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Read Elon Musk's Wild Deposition in Neo-Nazi Brawl Case - The Daily Beast - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Elon Musk included in Brazilian judge's investigation of disinformation - Euronews - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Is Elon Musk About To Get Quinn Emanuel Sanctioned? - Above the Law - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Elon Musk and Brazil are beefing over X - The Verge - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Elon Musk says his posts did more to 'financially impair' X than help it - The Verge - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Elon Musk's 'self-inflicted wounds' and other highlights from a newly released deposition - Quartz - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Elon Musk threatens to out top Brazil judge as alleged traitor - Fortune - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Why Elon Musk is fighting with a Supreme Court justice in Brazil - Rest of World - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Elon Musk Battles a Brazilian Judge: Everything to Know - TIME - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Elon Musk says he is 'guilty of many self-inflicted wounds' in defamation lawsuit accusing him of falsely identifying man ... - Fortune - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Elon Musk Is Platforming Far-Right Activists in Brazil, Defying Court Order - WIRED - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Elon Musk says AI will be smarter than some humans by next year - Fortune - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Elon Musk Picked the Wrong Fight in Brazil - Bloomberg - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Elon Musk on micromanaging: 'If you're trying to make a perfect product, then attention to detail is essential' - Fortune - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Elon Musk's X botched an attempt to replace twitter.com links with x.com - Ars Technica - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Elon Musk picks his speech battle - The Washington Post - The Washington Post - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Did Musk Trade an Affordable Tesla for a Robotaxi? - Bloomberg - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- How to Profit From Elon Musk's $18 Billion AI Project - InvestorPlace - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Elon Musk's xAI Seeks Up to $4 Billion to Compete With OpenAI - Bloomberg - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Elon Musk's Starlink Is Now Live in Indonesia - PCMag - May 20th, 2024 [May 20th, 2024]
- Oracle Stock Jumps On Reported $10B Cloud Deal With Elon Musk's xAI - Investor's Business Daily - May 20th, 2024 [May 20th, 2024]
- Musk must testify in SEC investigation, court rules - Axios - May 20th, 2024 [May 20th, 2024]
- Elon Musk Endorses This Apple Product As 'Great' And, No It's Not iPhone Or Vision Pro - Tesla (NASDAQ: - Benzinga - May 20th, 2024 [May 20th, 2024]
- Elon Musk's Twitter is now officially X.com - Mashable - May 20th, 2024 [May 20th, 2024]
- Elon Musk reportedly abruptly fired entire Tesla Supercharger team for this reason - Mashable - May 20th, 2024 [May 20th, 2024]
- Elon Musk Threatening Biglaw Firm To Silence Amicus Brief? - Above the Law - May 20th, 2024 [May 20th, 2024]
- Elon Musk fired Tesla's Supercharger team because exec opposed layoffs - Quartz - May 20th, 2024 [May 20th, 2024]