Three out of four owners are men

Almost three out of four owners of limited companies and owners of personally owned enterprises were men as per 1 January 2009. One out of ten owners of the personally owned enterprises were immigrants or Norwegian-born to immigrant parents.

The share of female owners of personally owned enterprises had a small increase of 2.3 per cent from 2004 to 2009. The highest share of female owners, with 28 per cent, was to be found amongst the organizational form general partnership.

Most male shareholders

Almost three out of four shareholders in private and public limited companies were men as per 1 January 2009. This share has been nearly constant in recent years, and there is no difference in the gender balance between these two organizational forms.

The largest personal shareholders were also men, since they constituted over 84 per cent of the large shareholders, i.e. shareholders with 75 per cent or more shares in the enterprise.

Men dominate the construction industry

Women were represented among the owners in 45 per cent of all general partnerships and general partnerships with shared liability. Thirteen per cent of these enterprises had only female owners, while women owned nearly 27 per cent of the sole proprietorship. Men dominate within construction, where 86 per cent of the partnerships and general partnerships with shared liability and over 98 per cent of the sole proprietorship had only male owners.

One out of ten owners were immigrants or Norwegian-born to immigrant parents

Nearly 11 per cent of the owners of personally owned enterprises were immigrants or Norwegian-born to immigrant parents. This corresponds to an increase of about three percentage points since 2004.

Twelve per cent of the sole proprietorship were owned by immigrants or Norwegian-born to immigrant parents, while about 5 per cent of the general partnerships and general partnerships with shared liability were owned by persons with a non-Norwegian background.

Ownership structure in private and public limited companies

Over half of the enterprises had only one shareholder as per 1 January 2009. These sole shareholders still amounted to only about 7 per cent of all the shareholders. Just 0.4 per cent of the enterprises had a hundred or more shareholders. These shareholders amounted to as much as 68 per cent of all the share holders at this point in time.

Almost 24 per cent of the personal shareholders were major shareholders in one or more enterprises. Of the shareholders that were enterprises, about 55 per cent were major shareholders in at least one enterprise.

General Managers and board representatives often represented among the owners

In 65 per cent of the private and public limited companies, the shareholders had roles as General Manager, chairman of the board, board member or deputy chairman. The largest share of the enterprises where the shareholders had roles is to be found within the enterprises with three or four shareholders. In 80 per cent of these enterprises, the General Manager and board representatives were represented among the owners.

Source: Statistics Norway