FUTURE REPORT

24
P
18

10

10 Time to mine the data 18 Humans define tech 24 A new kind of delivery
Analyst superstar Amy Webb claims His grandmother introduced him With the help of IT logistics planning,
that the Nordic countries are sitting to the latest technology. Today Schibsted’s Distribution Innovation

Tech
on a treasure trove of public data, and Schibsted’s Sven Størmer Thaulow delivers packages – and breakfast –
she would love for it to be free. is still a tech optimist – but also a along with newspapers.
tech realist.
People
36 The climate story
In the age of Greta Thunberg, four
50 A world-wide movement 56 Down with the old
The marketplace Blocket started in To build an organization adapted for
Swedish journalists set out to tell
1996, modelled on the bulletin board innovation you might have to start
the story of climate change. The two
at the local grocery store. The small by tearing it down. Don’t be scared, it
site started a world-wide movement. will hurt just a little bit …

56

36

h
50
 70

92

80

70 Prune the giants 80 Trendy investments 92 Building a new look

As the tech giants wield a lot of power,
The health industry is getting
voices are raised to split them up. Dan
digitalized fast – and Schibsted Growth Schibsted brand more visible.

Biz
Ouchterlony looks back in history to
is keeping an eye out for the latest It will also help us tell our long
see how monopolies have been dealt
history of independent journalism,
with before.
entrepreneurship and innovation.
 WE BELIEVE
IN THE POWER
OF TECHNOLOGY

I
n Schibsted we believe in technology and innovation. But we also believe in the
importance of discussing both opportunities and the risks and pitfalls they bring
– and what all of this means to our society. This is why we publish this report.
For Schibsted, the value of technology lies in its ability to provide better pro-
ducts and services to our consumers. Take, for instance, how technology allows
for new ways to collect, catalogue and categorize data: when our media houses –

read, they can adapt their online front page and bring you more relevant content.
When our marketplaces – like Finn and Blocket – know what you are looking for, they
can connect you with the right job, right house or right product at the right price. And
when our digital services – like Helthjem and Prisjakt – know more about your prefe-

Kristin and technology allow us to bring you better services and solutions, which in turn can

Skogen Lund
CEO
Years in Schibsted: One year
as CEO, and six as Commercial
2004–2010
My dream job as a child: Professor
make your life more convenient and perhaps even more enjoyable.
Then again, we are aware of the responsibilities we take on, when we manage the
technology and administer the huge amounts of information.
What it all boils down to is ourselves and our choices. Technology is created by people,
and people decide how to use it, and for what. This is Chief Data and Technology
optimist – but also a tech realist. Sven’s interest in technology was awakened by his
grandmother who brought home the latest tech and tools from America. No wonder he
wanted to be an inventor as a child.
We all need inspiration – and hope. And that’s another side of technology. What can
tech do to solve the climate crisis? Our newspapers all focus on climate change – and
never before has the public interest been more profound. But how do you cover this
topic in the best possible way? Do you sound the alarm or point to solutions? Svenska

journalism – not least when it comes to the photography.

you could start by changing your clothing habits. Britt Nilsen, Schibsted’s Head of
Sustainability, explains why the fashion industry has a huge impact on the environ-
ment and why it is time to start shopping secondhand – or perhaps start renting your
wardrobe.

You could also look in the mirror – if you can pick which one to use. Some compare our
digital future to a mirror world, a perfect copy of the real one but with a lot of functio-

interests, abilities and resources. Perhaps this is the biggest tech challenge to discuss
ahead – how do we make sure everyone has the same opportunities? The sixth edition
of Schibsted’s Future Report addresses this and other key tech issues. Enjoy!

1
INDEX

4 When tech changes our view of the world

10 Public data is a hidden treasure
13 Trends
15 “Crooks benefit from privacy protection”
18 Tech has always been the future
22 Meet our people
24 Logistics will bring you breakfast
28 5G – a miracle yet to come
30 A picture worth a thousand words
33 Our future with AI calls for human visionaries
Tech
 TECH

WHEN TECH
CHANGES OUR
VIEW OF
THE WORLD
What happens when augmented reality collides with
the internet of everything? Some cyber prophets
envision an enhanced mode of existence called the
mirrorworld. But is the mirror already broken?

5
TECH
L
ooking back at the future can provide an interes-
ting, if somewhat embarrassing, perspective on
the history of innovation. Every new year brings
new buzzwords, sounds of revolutions and para-
the future was never very astute.
One year the prophets assure us that the smart
Sam home is sure to change our lives, then 3D printers
Sundberg are on the verge of making factories obsolete, next comes
the Internet of Things, virtual reality, augmented reality,
Writer and Editor
Connection to somehow these predictions repeatedly miss their mark.
Schibsted: Freelance Another year goes by and neither society nor our lives is as
writer and Editor for thoroughly transformed as we envisioned. Instead other,
Svenska Dagbladet uncharted tracks toward the future open up. Suddenly the-
since 2005 re are kids running around chasing pokémon all over town,
My dream job as sharing the streets with adults zooming recklessly through
a child: Private
investigator
To be fair, many of the innovations that were promised
have, technically speaking, come to fruition. Augmented
reality, for instance, has been available and widespread
for many years. A few years ago, I visited the Googleplex
in Mountainview and tried the (at the time) bleeding edge
useful to boot. It just turns out that it is not quite useful eno-
ugh for people to actually want to buy and wear Google’s
Google Maps, on the other hand, is AR that has already
found a natural place in our lives. It is a great example of
how technology can fundamentally change our perception
of the world around us, while staying out of the way. Google
Maps adds a digital layer of information onto the physical
world, full of useful information about our surroundings,
and we have gradually become more dependent on this
6
digital layer, to the point where it now is second nature.
Meanwhile carrying a paper map, or even calling someone
for directions, now seems strangely archaic.
This February Wired magazine published a massive think
piece on AR, written by the magazine’s founding editor,
words next and big in a headline, but the idea Kelly delinea-
tes is an intriguing one:
Someday soon, every place and thing in the real world—
every street, lamppost, building, and room—will have its
full-size digital twin in the mirrorworld. For now, only tiny
patches of the mirrorworld are visible through AR headsets.
Piece by piece, these virtual fragments are being stitched
together to form a shared, persistent place that will paral-
T
his concept did not originate with Kelly. The term
-
-
nize the use of computers, transforming them from
(mere) handy tools to crystal balls which will allow us to see
The vision of the mirrorworld is essentially a merging of
augmented reality with the internet of everything, another
ambitious tech prophecy that is taking its sweet time to
come true. The IOE is the vision of a world where your bed,
your refrigerator, your stove, your car, and your shoes are
all connected and exchanging information. In a world whe-
re everything is connected the potential of augmented rea-
lity is vastly enhanced.

To understand what the mirrorworld would mean, it is hel-
pful to consider self-driving cars. At present they are using
cameras and other sensors to collect information from
the world they operate in, meticulously building a digi-
tal model of the streets around them that their algorithms
then struggle to make sense of. But they are also aided by
the aggregated data that is collected, uploaded to the cloud
and then accessible to other cars, for instance in the form
In an internet of everything scenario, the cars on the stre-
et would be less dependent on making sense of the world
through computer vision. Cars, bicycles, pedestrians, traf-
constant communication with each other, sharing infor-
of the world – mirrorworlds if you like. AR eyeglasses, too,
would be far more powerful than the current state of the art
if they could instantly extract information from every little
thing they were looking at.
The vision of the mirrorworld is shared by many players in
developing AR hardware to allow us to access the informa-
tion layers in new ways. They call their version of the mirror-
it, based on its understanding of our location and context.
These visionaries are all referring to a vast new world
built by ones and zeros that, with the help of AR and AI,
alters the physical world around us. This mirrorworld – or
whatever you choose to call it – is an exciting prospect. But
the bleak reality is that there will never be a single, shared
mirrorworld. Instead, there will be many mirrorworlds.
TECH
Digital layers
are added to
our world at a rapid
pace. In just a few decades
mobile phones have altered our sense of place, space and
time. We tend to imagine the next technological milestone
to be amazing and transformative while what we already
have seems boring and routine. But it can be helpful to
zoom out from the here and now, and imagine what we
would think of today’s smartphones if they were presen-
ted to us in the 1970s. From that viewpoint we are carrying
around tiny miracles of human innovation in our pockets,
and they happen to be amazing augmented reality tools. In
the words of cyberpunk author William Gibson: the future is
already here – it is just not very evenly distributed.
T
oday, the overwhelming majority of the world’s
population does not own a smartphone. As more
digital layers are added to the world, there is no
reason to believe that they will be accessible to all,
nor distributed equally. We will be piecing together
Every powerful tech company in the world will want to
means there will be competing shards or layers. Alphabet
– the parent company of Google and Waymo – is particu-
larly well situated to rule these worlds. They are leading
the AI race, and with Google Street View cars and Waymo’s
7
 TECH
- people moving through a city. One is a foodie, one is a Tinder
cal world, inch by inch. With the help of Android smartpho-
nes, they can track smartphone users as they move not only
on the web but through the physical world as well. Google
Maps, as mentioned before, is an impressive digital recrea-
the entire globe. In some places the granularity is no greater
than showing the names of roads, in other places you can
your way inside building complexes like airports and shop-
ping malls.
As amazing as this is, Google Maps is just in its infancy. 15
years ago, it did not exist. Try to imagine what it will be 20
years from now.
Amazon, Baidu, Wechat and Tencent are behind at this point,
but they are all investing heavily in technologies like aug-
competing mirrorworlds collide, we will see reality fracture
strange, I can reassure you: it will soon seem familiar, even
unremarkable. In fact, it is already happening. Imagine three
Philosophers have argued for
centuries about the existence
of an objective reality.
8
user, one is a Pokémon Go player. The way they experien-
with an eye on the interactive map leading the way to the
potential dates in the immediate vicinity. And then, of cour-
-
rel, oblivious of the many layers of data available.
P
hilosophers have argued for centuries about the exis-
tence of an objective reality, whether or not we can
perceive it and should expect that we share the same
experience of it. Plato, in ancient Greece, believed
that such a reality existed but that it was inacces-
sible to humans, who only perceive its shadow. Immanuel
Kant followed in Plato’s footsteps two millennia later, dis-
tinguishing between objects as things-in-themselves and
as phenomena, the latter being our perceptions of these
The prophecy of the mirrorworld is a grand one, a promi-
se of enhanced access to and understanding of the world.
But the most important takeaway here is this: as we inte-
grate technology ever more intimately into our lives, our
sensibilities are changing, and with them the very pheno-
mena of objects around us. In the words of David Gelernter,
Moving into the future, our shared experience of the
through a multitude of digital layers. To each his own mir-
highly relevant advertising.
TECH

PUBLIC DATA
IS A HIDDEN
TREASURE
Amy Webb is one of the world’s foremost technology experts. bad, but we have to be aware of it and
think of what consequences it might
She thinks the Nordic countries are sitting on treasure chests
of public data. Joacim Lund met her to discuss how to handle That is precisely what I want to talk
this – and gets into the same topic with Alex Stamos, former about with her. The value of data. Not
the fact that Google, Amazon, Facebook
and Apple have become the richest in
the world by developing services that

Joacim the Future Today Institute, which publis-

Lund
Years in Schibsted: 14.
My dream job as a child: Musician
(actually I used to be a musician, at least
part time, but not a very good one)
hes a yearly report about technolo-
gy trends, and prepares her lectures at
Business.
The last time I saw Amy Webb was
in March. She was on stage at the large
tech conference South by Southwest in
-
people want in exchange for knowing
everything about them. That’s common
knowledge. It is also well known that
these companies do not always take
good care of this data.
What is less well known, or at least is
given less attention, is whether data can
create value apart from making a few

“A
revolting, rat-infested cess-
pool. No human being
Donald Trump cannot
possibly have meant Amy
Webb’s neighborhood when
at Washington DC’s neigh-
boring city Baltimore. Based in a lux-
urious house overlooking the city, she
writes books on technology, manages
re. Everybody is trying to look into the to solve the mystery of cancer, stop radi-
future. She is one of the most ardent calization, combat global warming or
observers. produce more food for a growing world
- population. Data can be used to solve
the problems of the world.
says simply from the sofa. If they are accessible.
- Amy Webb is leaning forward. Her
gets, we produce heaps of data. The leather jacket is creaking. This is where
tech industry is gathering and using the- the battle of values is raging.
se data. It probably feels safe when you -
draw your blind and go to bed, but in
principle we are being watched all the
time. That is not necessarily something for the right of every individual to own

10
 TECH

Amy Webb used to work as a reporter on Wall Street Journal and

Newsweek. In 2006 she founded the Future Today Institute.

Photo: Elena Seibert

11
TECH
Perhaps it is too simplistic
to talk of private ownership
of data in the same way one
may talk about owning a cushion.
his or her data. That was met by a lot of
eye-rolling in Silicon Valley. Someone
even argued that people shouldn’t have
any access at all to their data because
they would not understand what they
see. That is an extremely negative view
of humans. But perhaps it is too simplis-
tic to talk of private ownership of data
in the same way one may talk about
owning a cushion. It is more rewarding
-
sible to let people have a say in deciding
who should have access to their perso-
nal data and what they are being used
for. The tech companies will roll their
eyes some more and claim that it is not
Maybe such a democratization would
lead to more data being accessible to
those who work on research and deve-
lopment. For them, free access to the
enormous amount of data stored by
the big tech companies, would be a big,
12
big step forward. But fortunately, these
companies are not the only ones with
capacity to collect and manage data.
They have just been quick at doing so.
Norway, for example, has a treasure
the world’s best health data, with a large
amount of information all the way down
to the level of individual from cradle to
grave over a very long period.
B
ut, just like most treasure chests,
most of these data are buried,
most of them in various silos, in
varying formats where they are
inaccessible to researchers who
could use them to prevent and cure or
to entrepreneurs who could use them to
build health services and products and
to create workplaces and values for that
matter. The question is who should car-
ry the costs and the work of digging up
the chest – and take responsibility for
the content once it is up. Who is to deci-
de what is a cost-worthy use of data and
therefore should be prepared? Who is to
be given access? Which role should the
public domain play?
Nordic countries are extremely advan-
ced compared to most other countries in
the world. If there were to be a pilot pro-
ject with openness, transparency, and
participation in a good way, I believe it
must be carried out in one of the Nordic
Isn’t there a certain risk with that?
-
nies and what I see is that everybody is
very excited by the possibilities to col-
lect data about their users. But worryin-
questions: what is it that we are actual-
ly collecting? How are we going to make
use of it? Who is going to have access?
soon everybody must relate to both bio-
metric data and behavior data to boot.
The world needs more data engineers,
and the data engineers we have need to
work more on safety and ethics and not
just on customer satisfaction barome-
do it. As a rule, the willingness to handle

quantitative and qualitative data.
THE BIG NINE
There are nine big tech companies –
six American, and three Chinese – that
are overwhelmingly responsible for the
Amazon, Facebook, IBM and Apple. In
China it’s the BAT: Baidu, Alibaba and
Tencent. Just nine companies are pri-
marily responsible for the overwhelming
majority of research, funding, govern-
ment involvement and consumer-grade
PRIVACY IS DEAD
One persistent theme in the 2019 report
is surveillance. Whether it’s how hard we
press on our mobile phone screens, our
faces as we cross an intersection, our
genetic matches with distant relatives,
our conversations in the kitchen or even
the company we keep, we are now being
continually monitored.
Just by virtue of being alive in 2019,
you are generating data – both inten-
tionally and unwittingly – that is mined,
and labs rely on these companies for
data, tools and funding. The Big Nine
are also responsible for mergers and
acquisitions, funding AI startups, and
supporting the next generation of deve-
lopers. Businesses in the West will soon
have to choose AI frameworks and cloud
providers – likely Google, Amazon or
-
no longer have an expectation of total
privacy. At least not like we’ve known it
before.
Companies that rely on our data have
new challenges ahead: how to store the
vast quantities of data we’re generating,
how to safeguard it, how to ensure new
datasets aren’t encoded with bias and
best practices for anonymizing it before
sharing with third parties.
TRENDS | TECH
CHINA
CONTINUES
TO ASCEND
ambitions not just to return humans to
the moon, but to build indoor farms and
livable spaces on the lunar surface. It is
making bold advancements in genomic
editing, in humans as well as in live-
stock and produce. Through its various
state initiatives, China is building infra-
structure and next-generation internet
networks across Southeast Asia and
pace for air quality, carbon emissions
and waste reduction. China’s electric
vehicle market dwarfs every other coun-
try in the world. All of that in addition
-
ce. No other country’s government is
racing towards the future with as much
force and velocity as China. This means
power in the years ahead.
13
TECH | TRENDS

VSO IS THE NEW SEO

About half of the interactions you have
with computers will be using your voi-
ce by the end of 2020. Whether you’re
talking to a smart speaker, or your car’s
dashboard, or your mobile digital assis-
you type. As content creators ventu-
re into spoken interfaces, publishers
and other companies will soon be focu-
scores of industries: advertising, hospi-
retail, news and entertainment, educa-
tion and more. This means opportunity:
there’s an entire VSO ecosystem waiting
reap huge windfalls. But it also signals
disruption to those working on the busi-

Lawmakers
sed more on voice search optimization ness side of search.

around the
world are not
prepared to
deal with new
challenges DATA RECORDS ARE COMING
that arise from One probable near-term outcome of AI decisions and provide you with a host of

emerging
- a comprehensive record passed down to
ing ledger that includes all of the data and used by your children – and it could
we create as a result of our digital usage be temporarily managed, or permanent-

science and
(think internet and mobile phones), but it ly owned, by one of the Big Nine. Ideally,
would also include other sources of legal you would be the owner of your PDR, it
would be fully interoperable between

technology. - systems, and the Big Nine would simply

We are sure to see proposals for new
regulatory frameworks. However the-
se new rules, regulations and policies
won’t be modeled to understand their
broader, next-order implications. Or
whether they can be enforced, as tech-
nology and science continue to evolve.
records, genetic screening results, exer-
-
ne retailers, in-store coupon use).
AIs, created by the Big Nine, would
both learn from your personal data
record and use it to automatically make
act as custodians.
PDRs don’t yet exist, but there are
already signals that point to a future
in which all the myriad sources of our
record provided and maintained by the
Big Nine. In fact, you’re already part
of that system, and you’re using a pro-
to-PDR now. It’s your email address.

14

“CROOKS BENEFIT
FROM PRIVACY
PROTECTION”
exaggerated privacy protection.
Joacim
Lund
“I
t’s personal. I don’t talk much
of Facebook’s top executives. Now
- Only authentic data can give a true
San Francisco.
Although Facebook’s headqu-
arters in Palo Alto is only a short walk
away, the distance between them is
long.
the rest of the executive management
over its handling of Russia’s attempts to
spread fake news on Facebook. Stamos
wanted openness, the others did not.
Following a board meeting at which
Stamos informed the board about how
the platform was being misused, Sheryl
Sandberg is reported to have yelled at
But that is not something he wants
to talk about. He would rather talk
about the Cyber Policy Center he leads
- -
Facebook and the other tech giants.
Stanford, Stamos is trying to launch his
new baby, The Internet Observatory. As
the name suggests, the idea is to build
a system that facilitates research online
and extremism, child abuse, bullying,
suicide, manipulation of democratic
elections and all the other shit that’s
going on out there.
The problem is that research needs
access to data, and most of the data on
what is going on in our common digi-
tal cosmos belongs to the tech giants
TECH
Facebook, Amazon, Google and Apple.
They are the world’s richest, thanks to
the data they have collected and explo-
ited to build goods and services the
world wants.
Their servers are the tech industry’s
equivalent of Fort Knox. Their data is
their gold, and it would take a lot for
them to allow others access to it.
that has not been changed by the inter-
net, and not all those changes are for the
teract the harmful aspects, you can’t
just base your research on opinion polls.
picture of the problems and of how we
The current conditions for researching
project needs people who are familiar
others who can resolve legal tangles,
and still others who can gain access to
data belonging to the various parties.
access to an observatory, so we are try-
ing to create an infrastructure for resear-
15
TECH

made a name for himself as a computer scientist specializing in security, privacy and and ethics.

“The pendulum
has swung too
far
possible to share
large datasets
without sharing
personal data.”

Photo: Steve Marcus

16

I say. Samos shrugs his shoulders.
scandals surrounding Facebook and
Cambridge Analytica, most people are
probably unsure of whether it is a good
idea for the platforms to share their data
with others.
The Cambridge Analytica scandal and
GDPR (the General Data Protection
Regulation recently introduced in the
transmitted by enterprises constitutes
a scandal. It doesn't. It’s perfectly pos-
sible to share large datasets without
sharing personal data. Privacy protec-
tion must be balanced against securi-
ty and competition. Today, crooks and
privacy protection, and research is suf-
But to my mind the problem doesn’t
stop there. Even if laws and regulations
made it easier for companies to share
their data, I doubt they would do it. If I
pick a full basket of lovely mushrooms,
there’s nothing to stop me from sharing
them with others. But I have no incenti-
ve to do that. I would rather fry them
in butter and eat them than give them
away to research. Stamos laughs.
not having to share. It means that any
detected, and that they avoid compe-
serious expression.
TECH
-
re. They’re too big and powerful to
States Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence) investigated Russia’s inter-
ference in the 2016 presidential election,
I
’m sitting across the table from him
and wondering whether nation sta-
tes have something to learn from
the platforms’ data strategy. What if
Norway, for example, were a start-
up company and Stamos the entrepre-
neur? How would he have created value
from the country’s vast, buried treasure
chest of public data?
datasets in one place, washed them
and got them to talk to each other. Then
-
ding to how sensitive they were so that
I could build a platform that allowed
aspects to a company that was subject
to stringent regulation, as in the oil indu-
drill a hole in the bottom of the North
Sea. A rig like that could facilitate rese-
arch and make it possible to create new
-
Who should invest then?
this could lead the way in realizing the
value of public data without violating
the rights of individuals. A fascinating
Stamos.
17
TECH

TECH HAS
ALWAYS
BEEN
THE FUTURE
technology realist, writes Sven Størmer Thaulow, Chief Data and
in his early years by his grandmother.

M
Sven ost of us trace lines back to when we were
children in order to better understand the old boy, this was impressive – and not least thrilling.
Størmer people we have become. I have always been

Thaulow a tech optimist with an eye to how technology

can improve our lives in the future. It all star-
Oslo with grandad, who was a research scientist. Together
Chief Data and
room at the research institute where dad wor- many friends in academia in Boston.
Years in
ked. It was a sharply lit room full of large machines with
Schibsted: 0.5
My dream job tape wheels moving back and forth. The room was full of brought new technology with her. I remember the electric
as a child: Inventor noise, the air was dry, and a barely detectable breeze was in bread knife with the two blades going back and forth – an
the air. There was much optimism about how these machi- innovative and lethal device (we were instructed to stay cle-
ar when Grandma was slicing bread). Then there was the
which required large amounts of data to be solved, such as electric jar opener, which – we were told – was developed

18
 TECH

When introduced, the

electric bread knife
seemed like a space-
age wonder.

19
TECH

up to about
20 years ago,

disks held
up to 1.44
megabytes
When did you of data.
last see an
old-fashioned
telephone, that
wasn’t an icon
on your smart
phone?

in collaboration with Nasa. Totally awesome, but sadly not
about how technology would develop and what opportuni-
ties it would bring. Her unshakeable belief in new technolo-
gy stayed with her until she died in her 90s.
mother. But at least grandma managed to smuggle me in a
Merlin, leading my interest in computers to blossom.
Now in 2019, technology optimism has been replaced by
technology pessimism: crypto-currency – which was sup-
posed to be a tool for good – has become a tool used by cri-

Y
et, technology optimists always meet sceptics. My
mother was the sceptic in our family: video (VHS)
did not belong under our roof – there was too much
No wonder then, that when grandma called from
Boston in 1979 and wanted to get a personal computer – the
minals to buy and sell drugs and stolen goods. Genes can
-
tion technologies we could only have dreamt of back when
intelligence – once considered a possible answer to many
of humanity’s great challenges – is now seen by some as a
threat.
Technology develops constantly. Today, it is not just part
of our surroundings – like an electric bread knife or two –
but it permeates every aspect of our society and our dai-

In this landscape, more ly lives. At the same time, legislation is lacking, unclear, or

landscape, more and more responsibility rests on us as

and more responsibility

individuals – both at work and at home. It is our responsi-
bility to consider whether it is okay to give away our data
or if we (as people who develop technology) want to use

rests on us as individuals.
data for a certain purpose or not. Not least, it is our respon-
sibility to be wise about using technology where we collect
data about people: how do we explain to people in a clear

20

The mechanical
typewriter
has a legacy
that arguably
stretches to the
layout of keys
was invented in
still with us on
modern devices.
and comprehensible way what their data is being used for?
These are issues we must all think about, whether we work
M
about it, but if you have installed an alarm in your
house that connects to a front door that uses a
code and not a key, you are already facing lots of
ethical issues. The lock on your door can record
when people come and go. Should you use it to see when
your spouse leaves or comes home? The technology is the-
re – it is your choice.
know the patient whose DNA you are now scanning perso-
nally, and discover that there is a relatively high chance she
will get an incurable disease in the future. Do you inform
her? The technology is there – it is your choice.
its own, and a soldier only has to press a trigger. Is this cros-
sing the line? The technology is there – it is your choice.
the machine learning algorithm you can increase how much
TECH
Cathode-ray tube based monitors and TVs can still be found in use
displays are far cheaper to manufacture nowadays.
you can alter the algorithm to produce content that pushes
you closer to an echo chamber. Should you use the algo-
rithm? The technology is there – it is your choice.
Or perhaps you are like me, who has sent a sample to a big
or Neanderthal you are. Quite fun and not too pricey! But
where did that data go? Maybe it can be used to determine
your children’s insurance premium in future? The technolo-
gy is there – it is your choice.
What is important to keep in mind is that the technology
itself is not harmful. Whether or not it is harmful is determi-
ned by how we choose to use it. I am still a technology opti-
mist, but I have also become a technology realist: everyone
must use technology, whether we work in the technology
industry or not – but we must be much more mindful of how
we use it, and consider the ethical challenges we are faced
with.
Technology scepticism is no way to go. I want to be like
my grandmother who never ceased to be fascinated by
technology. On one of her last days as a 97-year old she
streamed National Public Radio and chatted to her old
friend in Boston – on her laptop.
21
TECH | MEET OUR PEOPLE

JUHA WANTS YOU TO

BUY FEWER NEW THINGS

W
hat if there was an index on the
secondhand value for products? And
what if that would make people buy
more high-quality goods and resell
them when they don’t need them
anymore?

do such an index, and I truly believe that mar-

ketplaces for secondhand trade can change
consumers’ behavior towards a more circu-

Schibsted’s marketplace in Finland.

At Tori they have concluded that a circular
economy is much more than recycling and the

into the inner circle of this.

last longer, repair and modify and then change

ownership. If this became a habit it would

To get there, consumers need to know why

they should change their habits – the index
showing the secondhand value could be that
reason. If a childrens’ chair is still worth 70
percent of the original price when sold on
Tori, parents that normally would by a cheaper
chair might consider buying the more expen-
sive one if they know they will get this much
money back when reselling it.

project to develop this index.

But Tori has more ideas to make us buy
fewer new products – this is somewhat more
Juha Meronen
advanced: what if all the things you own were
CEO, Tori
listed in an inventory. Or perhaps all the things Years in Schibsted: 5
in Finland? If we knew the value of this, it My dream job as a child: Reporter
might make us realize that we should use all
the things we already have – instead of bying

young people are already leading the way. We

hear young people saying that buying new

22

CORDS MAKES
DESIGNERS
COOPERATE
- Patryk Kurczyna joined Schibsted in the
tally changing how updates and new
features can be implemented and sha-
red on Schibsted’s news brands’ digi-
tal platforms. It’s so unique that design
teams from both Canada and Belgium
have already visited and been in contact
with the media product and tech team
to learn about it.
Cords – Core news product design
Felixsson and her team.
- making sure that you are you when you
duct that any brand can use and apply
Cords is a framework for design and
artwork that contains guidelines for
processes and how to work on design
and user experience – and it has its
equivalent in code. To be even more
design for all components – like headli-
ne, media player, image gallery, text etc.
But perhaps most important – it has
also changed the way the design teams
work.
- we had to do it in a fully transparent
brands. Now we have weekly meetings
to discuss what’s next on the agenda
Nina.
Nina Felixsson
UX lead
Years in Schibsted: 5
My dream job as a child: Father
Christmas, a priest or a queen
A PROJECT
BIGGER
THAN GDPR
tech hub in Poland. Now, six years later,
he and the rest of the payment team
have launched one of the most com-
plex projects so far: they have aligned
Schibsted’s products and systems to
Services (PSD2).
We all know about GDPR – the pay-
ment directive is even more complex.
It’s all about customer authentication –
pay for something online. Now all users
are required to authenticate themselves
course means that all services charging
users need to make this possible.
The payment team in Poland has
worked with many stakeholders within
Schibsted.
-
ment methods into a new system in a
seamless way. All the users will still use
the same payment cards – but we use
another system. And at the same time,
So far everything has gone well.
all payments and our clients within
Patryk Kurczyna
Years in Schibsted: 6
My dream job as a child: Professional
football player with Juventus F.C.
MEET OUR PEOPLE | TECH
ALGORITHMS
STILL HAVE TO
LEARN A LOT
how we humans work. That is not the
case at all.
Simen Eide is developing features
created from machine learning and
AI at Schibsted’s Norwegian market-
place Finn. Strong focus areas at the
moment are recommendations and
personalization.
showing people what they have been
looking at earlier on the site. The chal-
lenge now is to create algorithms that
can predict how peoples’ behavior deve-
lop, based on interactions – to under-
The good thing is that it’s a very
universities, and companies are sha-
ring knowledge and results to a large
extension.
-
ting and we’re getting better all the time
-
Simen Eide
Data Scientist, Finn
Years in Schibsted: 4
My dream job as a child: A combined
jumbojet pilot and a developer
23
TECH | SCHIBSTED STORY
LOGISTICS
WILL BRING YOU
BREAKFAST
delivered by your newspaper carrier. The secret behind
within the Schibsted family.
Morten
Gamre
Sales and Marketing Manager,
Distribution Innovation
Years in Schibsted: 4
A
My dream job as a child: Musician/pop star
s readers of printed news-
papers are getting fewer,
the luxury of getting the
paper on our doorsteps eve-
ry morning seems threa-
tened. Turns out it’s a great
business opportunity.
In Norway several new
services are launched to consumers
and businesses with the help of the
newspaper distribution network, like
Morgenlevering (the breakfast) and
Helthjem (the parcels).
24
The decision to develop and launch
Morgenlevering in 2015 was based on
-
per delivery network was already there
– the recipe for unlocking the oppor-
tunity was teaming up logistics IT with
operations, adding an entrepreneurial
mindset and a splash of madness.
Initial success was limited, but the
service found its purpose when a local
baker saw the potential in using it as a
platform for selling his freshly baked
goods. Today Morgenlevering is a sepa-
magazines – delivering more than 1.6
million products to homes in the grea-
ter Oslo area, in Bergen, Stavanger and
Trondheim.
-
years has enabled tremendous deve-
Doordash (food delivery), Instacart (gro-
ceries) and Pillpack (pharmacy) are look-
ing at old problems in a new way and
leading the way.
But new ideas do not always come from
new companies. Schibsted Distribution
has 160 years of experience delivering
and needs to be on consumers’ door-
step before 7 a.m. In 2001 Distribution
Innovation (DI) was born in the same
family and has since then been a pioneer
in digitalizing logistics.
use new technology for something that
same time, we found that the mobile
internet could already solve some of the
operational challenges the newspaper
DI created and launched one of the
the Nordic countries, the DI Electronic
TECH | SCHIBSTED STORY
Delivery Guide for last-mile carriers.
This was made possible by heavy user
involvement and a process which faci-
litated cooperation across competing
newspapers from the very beginning.
- the network, we could focus on building
me the industry standard, DI has also
managed to win distribution customers
across Sweden and Finland, and now
currently manages more than two mil-
lion deliveries across distribution rout-
es that roughly span the distance from
Earth to the moon – every night. With
a scale like this, it goes without saying
that technology has contributed great-
delivery. From the start, the system has
also been developed to allow delivery of
more than just newspapers, and to build
third-party end-user services on top of
the distribution network.
In 2014, as the decline in print newspa-
per volumes was accelerating and most
of the cost-cutting potential was reali-
zed, Schibsted Distribution decided to
pursue the rapidly growing e-commer-
ce logistics market. The idea was to have
home delivery of small parcels – creating
26
new income based on the existing distri-
bution structure. A common end-to-end
system across Norway was a critical pie-
ce of this puzzle.
the market side and setting up the back-
end of the value chain. DI’s solutions
have developed along with the growth
I
n 2015 Schibsted joined forces with
Norwegian media peers Amedia and
Polaris media under the common
– establishing a national distribution
network of around 4,000 carriers cove-
ring 90 percent of Norwegian house-
holds 6-7 nights per week. This would
not have been possible without a com-
mon IT system and a joint goal: to main-
volumes of traditional products.
people go to a store to pick up their
online shopping. Research shows that
70 percent of shoppers would like to
get their parcels delivered at home,
whereas less than 25 percent actual-
Helthjem Netthandel (HHN).
More and more online retailers seem to
agree. HHN is the fastest-growing e-com-
merce logistics provider in Norway, tar-
doubling volumes every year since 2016.
crucial in building our service – both in
terms of quality in last-mile delivery and
integrating customers’ systems with our
To build the consumer position and
tap into the circular economy, HHN laun-
ched the Megtildeg service in 2017. This
is a consumer-to-consumer delivery
service, using the Helthjem network to
transport parcels from doorstep to door-
step. Megtildeg was developed together
with DI and has also been adapted for
the online used books store Bookis and
Schibsted's Norwegian marketplace
DI has also played an instrumental
part in developing the app and other sys-
tems supporting Schibsted Distribution’s
brand new shipping subscription, Svosj.
This is a platform which links online

A PLAN
TO REDUCE
THE CLIMATE
IMPACT
services, such as Megtildeg, that
encourage reuse and circular
economy, as the buyers and sellers
are directly connected. This is
part of the core of Schibsted
distribution.
We are proud to say that newspaper
and parcel deliveries in the
city centre of Oslo are almost
completely emission free, as the
majority of deliveries are made by
walking carriers with trolleys.
But a large part of the network
why Schibsted, together with
our partners Amedia and Polaris,
has investigated the total
environmental impact of the
distribution network, and are now
working on a plan to set ambitious
goals to lower emissions.
retailers to consumers through Helthjem
shipping.
tion and logistics systems, combined
- tion of newspapers, magazines and par-
with front-end usability expertise, has
been extremely valuable in the develop-
ment of the Svosj
Vestvik, project manager for Svosj.
- bution technology combined with new
nt and testing new technologies are the
CTO of DI.
O
ver the past couple of years DI
hackathons have developed secu-
re C2C logistics based on block-
Google Assistant-based voice
shopping service in northern Europe for
Morgenlevering and integration of digital
locks in the carriers’ Electronic Delivery
use Telenor’s brand new IoT network
(Narrowband IoT) experimenting with
sensors in containers to collect clothes.
- create unique and valuable services for
re the newest technologies to learn and
identify new potential services and app-
SCHIBSTED STORY | TECH
DI has claimed the position as the
Nordic industry solution for distribu-
cels – through the media distribution
network. To stay relevant, DI needs to
provide the carriers with technology that
will help them in their work to meet new
demands, delivering high-quality distri-
tools like augmented reality (AR), voi-
ce commands, image recognition and
automation, to handle even more com-
plex services for customers within and
parcels as the dominating product in the
network will be a demanding process,
and the focus for DI will be smart use of
for consumers and businesses.
-
tion, and this will be increasingly impor-
tant in the coming years. Collaboration
across borders and industries, em-
powered by smart use of technologies
both consumers and businesses. And
that will be in high demand in the coming
27
TECH
5G – A MIRACLE
YET TO COME
the past decades and the number of connected devices is
growing by the day. This creates the need for a faster, more
ready to save the day?
Mikaela
Åkerman
Years in Schibsted: 6
Y
My dream job as a child: Scientist
ou may have heard about
5G – the technology that
is expected to create new
opportunities for mobile
networks as well as lay the
foundation for the future
of IoT (Internet of Things).
- example, open up for things like wire-
ration cellular network technology.
When running smoothly, 5G could ope-
rate as much as ten times faster than
4G, reaching peak speeds of 20 GB per
second.
could mean for the average consumer is
- has been called a bit vague, it inclu-
tes to download with 4G only would
take about 30 seconds to download
using a 5G connection (if nothing else,
handy when you are about to board a
entertainment).
28
- and stories be generated automatically.
tion delays, called latency. Put simply –
no more annoyingly slow video calls. On
4G, the latency for a video chat is around
10.5 milliseconds (ms). With 5G, it is less
than a tenth of that, around 1 ms.
It almost goes without saying that
this kind of increase in mobile speed
would have the potential to disrupt a
mentioned are healthcare, manu-
facturing, automotive, retail and enter-
tainment. Since 5G would allow devices
to communicate with each other with
almost no lag, the technology could, for
less VR experiences and more reliable
driverless cars.
- ting things like walls.
ly mean a lot of new opportunities also
for the news industry. Not too long
des both new internal tools and upgra-
ded experiences for audiences, such as
more and better AR and VR immersive
experiences.
The most revolutionary impacts 5G
will have on news media, however, are
probably the ones publishers can’t
anticipate today, Harvard’s Nieman
be things like having reporters that are
ability for reporters to access their col-
leagues’ raw video feeds and creating
-
B
ut there are still a lot of unsol-
ved (and according to some, per-
haps even unsolvable) challenges
facing 5G. If we allow ourselves
to get technical for a minute, 5G
network. This means that instead of
using cables, it largely operates on the
-
signals. On the upside, this dramatical-
ly increases the bandwidth and makes it
possible to cram more data and accom-
modate more users. On the downside,
short wavelengths cannot travel long
distances and have a hard time penetra-
This means 5G will require new pho-
ne hardware, a lot more base stations to
maintain connectivity, and new phone
and network designs. Not to forget, addi-
tional hardware in your phone probably
means less space for battery and more
power usage. For now, experts have
said they expect 5G phones to be thick-
er, more complicated, use more ener-
gy, and cost more money. The general
recommendation has therefore been to
not rush to upgrade, but rather to check

back when 5G begins to roll out globally.
A concern that has been raised is if
more data could mean new and incre-
ased security risks, especially when it
5G will enable us to connect more devi-
ces to the network and share more of
has warned against a nightmare scenario
whereby hackers or hostile states assume
control of everything from electricity
grids to police communications and even
home appliances, reports Bloomberg.
The good news, optimists argue, is that
mobile operators are ensuring security is
built into the fabric of their 5G networks,
and that 5G networks still would be sig-
public Wi-Fi.
5G has already been launched on a
TECH
China and Japan are not far behind, and
tests have begun in European cities such
even if the expansion of 5G has begun,
it is hard to say when it will replace
4G. As we have learned, there are still
some minor (and major) obstacles stan-
ding in the way between you and that
ultra-smooth experience 5G promises.
29

A PICTURE WORTH
A THOUSAND WORDS
What if we in the future will only use photos when searching
of services dramatically – some at Schibsted’s marketplaces.
Arber
Zagragja
Years in Schibsted: 3
My dream job as a child: Architect for
L
Snøhetta
ong before we could read or
write, visuals and sounds were
the only way of communica-
tion, i.e. gestures, body langu-
age and simple drawings in the
sand, accompanied by some
writing systems with letters are
merely abstractions of the visual com-
munication that preceded them. One
could argue that the written language
has been a temporary means of com-
munication while we wait for technolo-
gy that can process and derive meaning
from the incredible amount of infor-
mation that visual formats (e.g. pho-
to or video) carry compared to written
words. That technology is here and it’s
here to stay. Its name is image recogni-
tion (or computer vision) and Schibsted
is already experimenting with it.
- lator on your trips around the world (ref.
ligence, however, computers are now
- minutes.
ter than we do! Computers used to be
like newborn babies: most have eyes
TECH
which give them a glimpse of the world
learn to focus their vision that they start
to truly comprehend what is around
them.
Video is just a fast sequence of images,
images are data and these data are pro-
cessed through algorithms that are trai-
ned to recognize patterns in those data.
results depending on the desired use
case. With cloud computing and high-re-
solution imagery, computers can now
perform tasks at speeds and scales that
are impossible for humans: detecting
nanometer deviations in a production
-
-
dual among hours of video in a matter of
This will inevitably alter how we go
about our daily lives as products and
31
TECH
services leverage the huge potential in
computer vision.
This is particularly interesting for
marketplaces that are about match-
making (a.k.a. liquidity) – bringing buy-
ers and sellers together and facilitating
a transaction between them. Amongst
other things, image recognition can
improve the quality of data by enriching
ads with metadata, and the user expe-
rience by enhancing the search and dis-
covery part of the customer journey.
T
here are multitudes of applica-
tions of computer vision from
hosts of providers. Companies
like Google, Amazon, Ebay and (in
particular) Pinterest have been
working on their own solutions for ima-
ge recognition, and all of them have
lately scaled their investments into the
technology. Schibsted also has some
features that are already live, and more
are in the pipeline. Below are some of
our favorite and most promising use
cases within marketplaces.
VISUAL SEARCH
Our culture is already dominated by
visual stimuli. Half of the human brain
is (directly or indirectly) devoted to the
processing of visual information (MIT,
1996). It seems only natural that search
and discovery starts with an image.
Visual search, i.e. search with image-
ry as input (as opposed to text), enables
quicker search and more accurate results,
catering to a better user experience in the
search and discovery phases. This drives
better matchmaking. Notably, Pinterest
recently integrated Shoppable Pins
directly with their visual search (Pinterest
customer journey as we know it.
32
Finn Torget has an image search beta
CATEGORY SUGGESTIONS
Sometimes the sellers on our market-
-
gory that comes to mind, and that
category is not always the correct one.
While one can always improve the cate-
gory taxonomy, it could also be solved
with smart suggestions based on image
recognition.
The category suggestion service of
the Cognition team helps people select
the right category for their ads during
snaps a picture and the service provi-
des suggestions for which category the
ad could belong in. This removes fric-
tion and shortens ad insertion time, and
ensures that ads are categorized cor-
- the seller and buyer are happy!
ture is in production on Blocket.
RECOMMEND VISUALLY
SIMILAR ADS
Image recognition can capture remarka-
bly more facets of an image than what
a human is able to articulate in a text
common recommendation method) is
able to account for. Thus, recommenda-
tions based on visual similarity can be
more relevant, which makes it easier for
looking for.
Another useful distinction between
recommendations based on collaborati-
while the former tends to favor recently
published ads (because of users’ beha-
age of the ads (as similarity trumps age).
This means recommendations based on
visual similarity can give new life to older
ads and hopefully provide them a new
owner.
This feature is in production for all
categories on Finn Torget.
METADATA ENRICHMENT
their object in the ad. Meanwhile, some
they are looking for even though it might
exist on the marketplace.
We can cut out the humans from the
equation and jump straight to auto-
mation. Image recognition allows us to
populate an ad with additional metada-
ta based on the uploaded image(s) which
That way we boost liquidity – and both
What’s more, it could even help valua-
te an object and auto generate relevant
alternative text for images, which is gre-
at for accessibility and SEO.
A working prototype was built using
Google Cloud Vision’s API during Finn
hack days in May 2019.
CROPPED VISUAL SEARCH
Over the past few years though, we have
seen a rise of inspirational platforms like
social networks and Pinterest. Instagram
and Pinterest are incredibly good at
monetizing the search for inspiration. So
why is Schibsted not doing the same?
We know that many of our users hang
out on our real estate ads for inspira-
things they like in those images (e.g. that
retro sofa or designer lamp) on our gene-
ralist marketplace or at Prisjakt? Food
for thought. Bon appétit!

OUR FUTURE WITH
AI CALLS FOR HUMAN
VISIONARIES
question established truths and move our species forward.
Agnes
Stenbom
Management Trainee as Associate
Product Manager in machine learning
Years in Schibsted: 1
My dream job as a child: Editor of
a newspaper
M
discussing current developme-
connected to a competition of
speed, with contestants moving
we don’t have such a destination. There
- on and on, and the outco-
is not a place but something as grand as
the evolution of our species. To advan-
ce through this process, it is time we
the most value.
A key weakness of AI is the fact that
algorithms are inherently conservati-
ve. As they learn from data represen-
ting what has worked in the past, they
are unlikely to pioneer in uncharted
territories or celebrate emerging chang-
shortsightedness – the inability to pre-
dict and celebrate how novel ideas, con-
tent or products perform.
The basis of their shortsightedness is
that algorithms are only as good as the
- times of global instability, but we have to
cient, biased or faulty data about past
successes to inform strategies and
products for the future is thus a risky
business, and in recent years we have
seen many examples of how it can
hurt big corporates and startups alike.
Radicalizing echo chambers, biased
hiring tools, racist image recog-
nition services, oppressive cre-
dit scoring tools – the list goes
bottom of social hierarchies
most.
Algorithms are incredible
when there is a pre-decided
number of alternatives, regard-
they cannot think outside of the box-
skilled at doing just that! Our ability to
TECH
question established truths has been
integral as our species has moved
through time, and in this age of AI we
-
tion requires.
In commercial settings, we need to
update how we approach and value skills
in domains like philosophy and art. To
win in the age of AI, we need visionaries
who are cultivated and open-minded
of world! Safe bets may feel appealing in
dare imagine complete novelties to really
power our businesses through AI.
It is not AI alone, but the combina-
tion of it and visionary humans that will
bring the real revolution. This is simi-
lar to past waves of mechanization and
innovation of, let’s say, the auto-
mobile that altered the course of
humankind, but the pairing of
such a new tool with humans
us not underestimate our
opportunity to now shape AI
the future, but it doesn’t know
it better than any of us humans.
-
mic systems alone to decide. Our histori-
cal data isn’t exciting enough for the rest
of the time to depend on it.
33
INDEX

36 How do we tell the climate story?

46 Would you rent a skirt?
49 Generation Z is leading the change
50 An idea that started a movement
54 Meet our people
56 Rethinking organizations
60 Five lessons for journalism in the Age of rage
63 Trends
64 We love local
People
 HOW
PEOPLE

DO WE
TELL THE
CLIMATE
STORY?
Hope or despair – what stories about
climate change will drive change?

ways – when interest from the

audience is stronger than ever.

36
 In Hellisheidi in Iceland, CO2 is
captured from the air, mixed with
water, and pumped down into the
porous, volcanic bedrock. The
carbonated water reacts with the
basalt and transforms into calcite.
Photo: Magnus Hjalmarson Neideman
In Westland’s greenhouses, in Ontario, Canada, there are between 100 and 150 hectares of enclosed crops. Photo: Magnus Hjalmarson Neideman
The houses are heated with gas, but lately thermic heat and excess heat from industries are also used.

I
s it time for a new chronology? Ante and post Greta.
Before the teenager had made youth all over the
world go on strike, the interest in climate journalism
was weak. Now, it’s the other way around. Readers
and viewers can’t have enough.
By now Sweden is the world champion in climate
journalism, at least if we include Greta Thunberg in
our blue and yellow team. Her engagement has made
Erica Treijs
ting on their own lifestyle. Greta Thunberg’s speech at the
Svenska Dagbladet
Years in Schibsted: 20
My dream job
as a child: Pippi
dolphin trainer
people felt an urge to make their voices heard.
On Twitter, almost a million messages were posted in
the 24 hours following the speech and her 17 postings on
actions, more than double the number president Donald
Trump received in the same period, according to Retriever,
Things are going well. At least for the journalistic climate
-
dent to media people as covering sports, politics or the
-
ten with the climate in focus in Sweden, twice as many as
in 2014 and the forecasts continue to point upwards. In the
more than the full year of 2016.
- Of course, everything is connected. Where the debate
is, there are the readers. When Donald Trump is belittling
Greta Thunberg, the enthusiasm is sky high. Her call to stri-
ke becomes a kitchen table dilemma for parents all over
the world. Scientists are underlining the need for a change
of lifestyle in the Western world to diminish our ecologi-
cal footprints and possibly reach the target from the Paris
Conference of 1.5 degrees increase in global warming.
Alarms are sounded. The debate is intense. Garbage is
sorted. Guilt and shame. Engagement and numbness. Facts
galore.
What is it then that we in the media should tell the public?
Is it the dystopian stories in the wake of climate change or
should we focus on the innovations that can stop the global
warming? Is it hope or despair that drives change? And should

38
 PEOPLE

All of Schibsted’s newspapers have an extensive clima-

people and to be made visible. The picture language is uni-

of the baby a silhouette of a forest is projected. A blood

circulation that was nearly extinguished before life had
- begun. The pictures remind us of who must take the blow of
our choices: the children.
or practicing planless noise-making. Magnus Neideman
works as a
Magnus Wennman went west to tell what happens to people “Their Planet”? photographer
in the wake of climate change and how the next generation at Swedish
I always look for people who can give a voice and a face to a newspaper
Svenska Dagbladet
of what once was the bone-dry little town of Paradise in
since 2007. His
California. Erik Wiman says. pictures from

in white protective clothing went about in search of human
remains. Those were almost surrealistic days. A town that,
within a few hours, ceased to exist. We built our story on a
out of the town. It is one of the most shattering witness sto-
The result is a brilliant piece of journalism bearing wit-
ness to how global warming is a burning issue which should
S
venska Dagbladet has partly chosen another path. the innovations
Instead of following the tracks of climate change,
the photographer Magnus Hjalmarson Neideman will be on display at
and I have been looking for possible solutions that Kontrast, the press
photographers
gallery, in Stock-
might be able to save our planet as we know it. That took
holm in April 2020.
us, among other places, to the worlds largest solar thermal
power plant in Sahara and to Iceland, where carbon dioxi-
de is being sucked out of the atmosphere and then pumped

Crews search for

human remains
in the American
town of Paradise,

Photo:Magnus Wennman
The tower at Noor 3 power station in Morocco is blinding,

of mirrors. Toghether with Noor 1 and 2, the facility will

provide electricity for a million people.
Photo: Magnus Hjalmarson Neideman
 PEOPLE
”Resilience ought to be the eleventh
commandment when the planet has
a fever and when our ecosystems
are on the verge of collapse.”
back into the bedrock, where it is mineralized in a matter
of just a few months. In the assignment, video has been in
focus. Therefore, each journey has, in addition to an exten-
sive feature story, also resulted in a short documentary.
-
neously. But it has gone fantastically well and we have real-
is a nuisance to always have to have the camera on a tripod.
But these are new times and if you want to be sustainable
that are tastefully presented online seems to be a way of
describing this global development besides the ordinary
reporting of news.
Because now, as the percentage of carbon dioxide in the
and the average temperature of the earth is continuing to
increase, more and more people are beginning to understand
that it is important, urgent and necessary to understand the
complexity in order to be able to act and not just succumb to
My understanding of the force in telling good stories, the
importance of also nurturing hope came to me as I was try-
where all the animals were under threat. They were emacia-
ted, vomiting plastic and succumbing to drought. What was
her future going to be like? Was there any point at all in car-
Do I have that now?
42
from the problem with batteries and renewable sources
of energy to the challenges for the transport sector, clima-
te-smart food and having talked to many leading research-
ers, an answer has gradually appeared.
Actually, the voices have become more and more cohe-
ought to be the eleventh commandment when the planet
has a fever and when our ecosystems are on the verge of
collapse. We still don’t know where the tipping point is,
when the systems are bolting and there is no way to stop
the warming regardless of how we try. But no one can claim
that they did not know where we were heading. On the day
it happens, if it happens.
B
Thunberg says, you should listen to the researchers.
And they increasingly agree on what is happening
and why. At the same time the technology is there.
Millions have demonstrated the will of the people
globally. The economic incentives are becoming more and
more clear. The media is reacting and upgrading – while
politics is still lagging behind in some places.
Address, established that all men are created equal, that
the country shall have a new birth of freedom with a govern-
ment of the people, by the people, for the people and that
the people shall not perish from the earth. Greta Thunberg
declared that the world is about to wake up and the change
is on the way.
The task for journalists is always to describe the world
around us, to put questions, tell stories and hold the forces
of power responsible. But to compare Greta Thunberg to
 PEOPLE

Magnus Wennman
is an award winning
photographer working

2001. His work

about refugees,

collaboration with

world tour. His photos

has also been featured
on the cover of Time
Magazine and National
Geographic.

Erik Wiman is an
award winning
reporter working at

He has reported from

such as Iraq, South

Sudan and Gaza. Erik
has also covered IS
terrorists returning
from Syria, the refugee
crisis, violent nazi
groups and criminal
street gangs in
Sweden.

he and his mother

Photo: Magnus Wennman

43
 The air in the
slums of Dhaka,
Bangladesh’s

Disease spreads
quickly through
the communities of
climate refugees.
Photo:Magnus Wennman

At last, rain falls over

forests around
Paradise, California.
Photo: Magnus Wennman
In the deltas of
southern Bangladesh,
people are already
paying the price for

parts of the country

and around 100,000

every year.
Photo:Magnus Wennman
PEOPLE
WOULD YOU
RENT A SKIRT?
Will fashion shame be a needed tipping point for the fashion
industry to become sustainable? There are already several
alternatives to shopping for new clothes.
Britt
Nilsen
Head of Sustainability
Years in Schibsted: 21 years in total, over
three periods
F
My dream job as child: Doctor
light shame has recently been
on everybody’s lips. Should we
feel ashamed or not? Should we
into a transformation mode? Or
should we climate compensate
until the airline industry itself
reduce its emissions? Will the industry
even bother without a push? Will shame
lead to anything positive at all or will it
just drive us into climate depression?
46
disposed of in a year. The fashion indu-
The overall quality of clothing has decre-
percent of the global emissions come
from the aviation industry. But there is
ased tremendously, causing producers
to manufacture a lot more. Research
another industry that is an even worse
emitter and should worry us even more
from BBC Earth shows that three out of
- up in the bin within a year.
prises 10 percent of the global emissions Needless to say, this has a huge nega-
tive impact on Mother Earth.
energy-intensive production. In addi- So, what can be done to turn this
tion, it consumes a lot of natural resour- around?
ces. But to stop using clothes is not an Obviously the fashion industry must
change the way it operates. The tex-
According to a report from the Ellen tiles industry works in an almost
- completely linear way today with
take-make-dispose: large amounts of
billion of value is lost every year due to non-renewable resources are extracted
clothing underutilization and the lack of
- for only a short time.
rial used to produce clothing is recycled Waste and pollution are largely a
into new clothing. A scary 73 percent of result of the way we design things. By
changing our mindset to view waste as
This is the dark side of the fast fashion new materials we can ensure that waste
than half of fast fashion produced is place. This is the beauty of the circular
 PEOPLE

A fashion show with secondhand clothes, arranged by Schibsted’s

Finnish marketplace Tori. On page 22 CEO Juha Meronen shares
Tori’s long-term view on sustainability.

Photo: Janne Tirronen

47
PEOPLE
economy and it is a new way to design,
make, and use things within planeta-
ry boundaries. It’s the model of redu-
ce-reuse-repair-recycle and in this way,
their highest value during use and then
ending up as waste.
There is progress in the industry
today. There are initiatives trying to
change material types other than the
culprit polyester, a polluting plastic
made from fossil fuels, like Spinnova
in Finland, which turns cellulose and
harmful chemicals. They state that
Y
ou also have the joint initiati-
ve between Fashion For Good
and C&A to develop C2C Gold
been designed to last longer,
they can easily be recycled and they
are made in a way that is better for the
environment and for the health of gar-
ment workers.
But it’s far from enough, and if custo-
mers want fast fashion, why should the
industry be motivated to change? Just
think about how easy shopping is today
with the online options and the retai-
fashion shame could be it.
Shame or not, we need to change the
way we think about our clothes. We all
have practical, emotional and social
reasons for both wearing the clothes
and buying them. It’s not necessarily
-
tional motives and use shopping as the-
rapy. Or you are the practical type who
needs something to wear and want a
bargain on Black Friday. Or you wear
clothes to demonstrate values and
based on social pressure.
What if your taste for fashion
and your reasons for wearing
and purchasing could be satis-
could end up changing your
wardrobe whenever you want.
own clothes that you are tired
of and earn money that could be
48
spent on renting more clothes. Or what
20
if you have a black belt in shopping and
people about their clothing
by shopping secondhand online or habits and if they are
even join a secondhand fashion show prepared to change
black belt into a green one.
them. Young people
All these options are available today are leading the
and more are in the pipeline. Fjong in way when it
Norway rents out women’s wear and comes to
helps you rent out your own clothes that
you have grown tired of. Even brands
environmental
like H&M and NA-KD are looking into actions.
rental options today. And there are mar-
ketplaces facilitating secondhand tra-
de like Finn, Blocket, and Tori and many
others.
So, think again the next time you are
in need or in the mood for shopping.
Could you do it in another way? Do you
really need it? Could you repair or rede-
sign what you already have? Could you
buy it secondhand or rent it? Could you
swap or share with someone? Could you
reduce what you already have by giving
it away or selling it to someone?
And if you can’t – at least make sure
you buy quality clothes with a long life
and with the possibility to recycle into
new clothes. And always ask the retailer I Have changed my clothes-washing
for information on what the garment is habit during the last two years
19%
made of, how long it lasts and if it can
26%
be recycled. They may not be able to
answer or even provide you with a qua-
lity product, but at least you put a mes-
sage through that they have to start
sharing information with their custo-
mers and rethink the way they produce
14%
their clothes.
12%8%2%
Born Born Born
1995–2019 1900–1979
 PEOPLE

6%7%
GENERATION Z IS

0%
LEADING THE CHANGE

Karin Nelsson
Connection to Schibsted: Head of Opinion

My dream job as a child: Musician

T
he clothing industry is on the move! From focusing
on the environmental impact of cars, plastic in oce-

in opinion, it starts with awareness and with people

trying to understand what you can do as an individual and
society. Then it changes to action. The mainstream adop-
tion takes time.
The foremost reason I buy secondhand
In a survey for Schibsted Future Report we have investi-
clothes is that it’s better for the environment
-
rations in changing wardrobe habits. The result shows that

59%54%39%
concern about the environmental impact of apparels and

the consumer has an increased interest in buying second-

hand, mending and re-designing clothes. There is also a

Z, where Generation Z to a greater extent prefers second-

hand clothes over new clothes.
Not surprisingly, the younger generation is leading this

%
change, with Generation Z adopting new behavior much
faster.
We know that concern about the environment is strong
among consumers, but shopping behavior is still more
about convenience. Not least for younger generations, it’s
important to be able to shop online, try the items on and
send the unwanted clothes back. A habit that has a really

7%
bad impact on the environment.
Almost three quarters of the millennials admit that

14%7%
they have bought clothes online that they have sent back.
Only one quarter says that they haven’t done so, which
is less than any other group of people. If we compare to
Generation Z, that group seems to be more aware, but the
reason is most likely that they are simply not old enough
and don’t have the money to spend.
Apart from doing good for the environment, the fact that
buying secondhand is cheaper and that it is fun to bargain,
is a driving force impacting new behaviors.
Even traditional retailers are starting to embrace second-
hand and making it more accessible for consumers. The
secondhand customer is no longer somebody else’s custo-
mer, they are everybody’s customer. No matter if it is luxury

for much less, they’ll choose used. As the line between new
and used apparel blurs for consumers, a powerful transfor-
mation in the clothing industry will unfold.

49
200,000 ads for sofas, chairs and

AN IDEA
THAT STARTED
A MOVEMENT
A digitized bullet board changed our shopping habits for
ever – and started a movement for a more sustainable
sister sites all over the world.
Tero
Marjamäki
Acting Head of PR & Editorial, Blocket
Years in Schibsted: 0.5
1
My dream job as a child: Florist
996. Henrik Nordström, born
and raised in the small town of
Fjälkinge, Skåne, stands in front
of the bulletin board in the local
- time connected via modem, and bro-
self drawn to the small notes
pinned up on the board. This is
where people from all over town
try to advertise things they no longer
use. They write a description on a pie-
bulletin board and hope for passers-by
to see it. But this is a rather tedious
SCHIBSTED STORY | PEOPLE
process, in fact unnecessarily so. This is
where Henrik is hit by an idea – the bul-
letin board should be digitized!
But the road between the physi-
cal and the digital world was longer in
those days. This was two years before
Google’s search engine was developed,
Ebay had just launched on a small sca-
le the year before. The Swedish govern-
ment was about to be digitized and
Facebook wasn’t even thought of. The
few people who used internet at the
the language used to construct websi-
tes, was only a few years old and many
thought internet was just a passing
trend. But some people believed in the
new technology, and that it was going
to do great things and change lives.
Henrik Nordström was one of them.
51
PEOPLE | SCHIBSTED STORY

52

23 5
years is the age million – the
of Blocket, amount of weekly
founded in 1996. visitors.
- countries, but is more important now
tized bulletin board, Henrik started
coding, and only a few weeks later he
The service was solely aimed at people
in the Skåne area. The layout of the site
was striped to look like the inside of a
notebook.
A
t the end of 1997 Blocket was
being used by Swedes all around
the country. Six years later, in
2003, Schibsted acquired the
Since then, Blocket has grown
immensely. In the year of its launch the-
re were two employees and a revenue
Blocket are now available in a lot of
countries and eight out of ten Swedes
has bought or sold something at Blocket
in Sweden. Amongst families with child-
ren, more than 90 percent have used
Blocket. On an average week there are
percent) and few Swedish sites have a
bigger impact. On an average day you
can browse through 600,000 ads. 10 per-
cent of these ads are marked sold within
an hour, 25 percent within a day and 60
percent within a week. The combined
worth of all things for sale at Blocket
corresponds to about 15 percent of
Sweden’s GDP. Progress has been fast.
Blocket has grown and the interest for
secondhand trade has increased rapidly.
Blocket was pioneering at its time
and has made imprints on several
98 1/4 250 714 0.8
percent of of everything that people are
the Swedish is advertised on employed at
population Blocket is sold Blocket.
knows of Blocket. within a day.
than ever before. We need to adapt to
a more sustainable culture of consump-
tion. What Henrik Nordström founded
was not only a marketplace on the inter-
net, it was something bigger.
-
ves that has pushed the Swedes to buy
and sell secondhand, but lately there is
a new factor that has grown in impor-
tance: the environment. A survey by
Ipsos in 2009 showed that 24 percent
of all Swedes think that one of the rea-
sons to buy and sell used things is to
be environmentally friendly. Five years
later that number had increased to 42
percent. More than every other partici-
pant also said that their interest in buy-
ing secondhand had increased the last
three years. Two out of three Swedes
state that they sell things they don’t
use mostly because they want them
to be recycled. These are clear signs of
people wanting to distance themselves
from overconsumption.
- cies, climate compensation and
ring how easy it is to buy and sell used
objects, and more and more people
see the value in buying things that are
recycled and that last for a long period
of time,’’ says Pernilla Nissler, CEO at
Blocket.
One factor that has been pushing the
secondhand trend is the fact that clima-
te change and the issues that follows
have shown that the current econo-
mic culture, in which we constantly buy
and produce new things, is unsustaina-
ble. Therefore the circular economy has
gained ground. The idea behind is to
use resources in the best possible way,
instead of wasting them.
SCHIBSTED STORY | PEOPLE
billion SEK – the million – the
total worth of all amount of
ads on Blocket GHG emissions
Swedes prevents
by shopping at
Blocket.
new things. Take Christmas shopping
for example, where our consumption
hits new records every year. We must
change our habits and the way we look
at secondhand trade and ownership.
our things, we must start viewing our-
Nissler.
Hopefully this green trend will
become even stronger among futu-
re generations. The Swedes’ engage-
ment in secondhand trade has already
shown results. Every year, we prevent
because of secondhand trading via
-
-
till for a year.
B
locket as a company does its
utmost to be environmentally
This involves environment poli-
establishing demands towards supp-
liers, but also a consistency when deve-
loping new services. Blocket will also
launch a new site to get the already
many customers to continue to buy and
sell used, but also to get new customers
250 employees never stop improving
our product, working every day to
make the secondhand trade as easy,
more people can discover the bene-
ride for Blocket, and we have only just
53
PEOPLE | MEET OUR PEOPLE

BRINGING NEWS INTO

THE PUBLIC SPACE

W
hat if you could get news
from VG on screens in the
subway or in the bus stand?
Camilla Brække is head of a
project for sound and visu-
als that’s looking into how to
make VG more present in the
public space. But it all started
indoors.

Home Assistant, but soon realized that the

audience is still very small in Norway. That’s
when we changed focus and started working

says Camilla.
Basically, her team is making daily video
news broadcasts in a simple format that can
be produced by just one person. There’s a
camera at the VG news desk and a VJ can just
start recording at any time.
The content has also changed as the pro-
ject has moved forward. In the beginning they

but then ended up with a lot of text on still

pictures. Now they’re trying to simplify angles
and messages to adapt to the format and the
concept.

much more to the point. If we want to catch

people’s attention out in the city, we need to

At the moment the team is trying out the

product on VG’s start page and soon it will be
on Snapchat. But the overall goal is to move
out into the city. When becoming more and
Camilla Brække
more digital, newspapers like VG have lost
Project Leader of voice and screens, VG
presence outdoors, losing attention for their Years in Schibsted: 5
brands. This could now be about to change, My dream job as a child: Princess, astronaut, and hairdresser
with VG’s news displayed at train stations, air-
ports and out in the city.
Camilla has enjoyed how the project has
developed – from starting out with this one
idea of content for Google Home to becoming

54

COOPERATION
IS KEY IN THE
OFFICE
One morning when Fredrik Hammarstedt
worked as facility manager at Telenor’s
man he had never seen in the subway.
Not unusual you might argue. But when
had done so for years.
If you do so naturally on a day to day
basis, the thresholds are a lot lower the
Fredrik.
He now has the same job at Schibsted
in Stockholm. Fredrik believes that you
Starting with those basic questions
how you create one that people really
want to go to every morning.
Collaboration is a keyword – as is cul-
ture, being agile and of course technolo-
gy that enables you to do your work.
One thing was very important to
Fredrik to implement when he began.
management system with a heart.
Filling out a form is not enough. That’s
Fredrik Hammarstedt
Years in Schibsted: 1.5
My dream job as a child: Truck driver
“IT'S IMPORTANT
TO TEACH KIDS
ABOUT TECH"
One week last June, the atmosphere in
Oslo changed completely – kids aged
Kids Coding Camp is introducing
kids to tech and coding and is arrang-
ed by the Talent Acquisition team at
- lism out on stage.
ed by Finn and now Schibsted is copying
it with pride.
job when working on this. It’s important
to teach kids about tech – and not least
Nilsson, employer branding specialist
and responsible for the project.
The kids work in a program called
Scratch – which is a tool developed for
children – and their teachers are stu-
dents from KTH (the Royal Institute of
Technology). On examination day they
had created games, quiz, animations
and much more.
I was hanging around and someone
asked if I could help – I didn’t have a
Schibsted employees were invited. Next
time, in February 2020, it will grow to an
external integration project with kids
from the suburbs.
Ida Nilsson
Years in Schibsted: 1.5
My dream job as a child: Hairdresser
MEET OUR PEOPLE | PEOPLE
EVENTS
THAT BUILD
LOYALTY
In a time when journalism needs new
ways both of earning money and of buil-
ding loyalty, the Norwegian newspaper
Event, and she is bringing the journa-
stay on, recruit new readers and to raise
Climate, tech, culture and news are
the main themes. In December 2019
-
Schibsted. Famous guests like tech futu-
rist Amy Webb and Alex Stamos, compu-
at Facebook attended (read interviews
with them on pages 10 and 15).
-
se events – both in working with the edi-
Martine’s team will also arrange
a sports event together with VG and
they have developed masterclasses for
presenting and podcasting.
-
se themes across the whole of Schibsted,
Martine Stolp
Years in Schibsted: 6
My dream job as a child: An actress or
TV host on children’s television
55
PEOPLE
RETHINKING
ORGANIZATIONS
Leave the old hierarchical organization behind!
enable innovation.
Mette
Krogsrud
Years in Schibsted: 6 in total,
over two periods
J
My dream job as a child: Air hostess
ust like business models,
organizations need to disrupt
themselves to be sustainable
in a world of hypercompe-
tition and constant change.
Future-proof organizations
transform from hierarchical
constructs into open, inter-
connected networks populated by a
-
rency and immediacy, just like the world
wide web. This is how organizations will
foster an innovative culture for the new
generations.
Innovation is the fuel for renewal
and the key to reinventing and sustai-
ning ourselves. To succeed in the futu-
re, organizations must regard change
56
and innovation as their core activi-
ties. Those who do that best will be
-
-
says Gary Hamel, one of the world’s
-
ness thinkers. He refers to studies by
McKinsey & Co where 94 percent of exe-
cutives argue that although innovation
is hugely important, their organizations
are not good at it. Why?
Hamel and many other leading stra-
tegists argue that we are stuck in old
ways of thinking when it comes to the
construct has remained unchanged sin-
ce the Industrial Revolution – for nearly
living in the mid 19th century. It was
designed for control purposes, to create
-
-
Paradoxically, we can argue that organi-
zations are failing to innovate because
we are failing to innovate the innovative
PEOPLE
- In their urge to learn, an increasing
stand what lies ahead, let’s take a look
at some workforce trends facing us.
MILLENNIALS TAKING OVER
We know that millennials will soon
represent 50 percent of the workforce
and that the millennial generation dif-
several ways that will alter how people
work. We know that millennials want
impactful work that promotes learning
and variation. Millennials are purpo-
se-driven, multi-tasking digital natives,
but also self-centered, easily bored, and
disloyal employees.
Millennials want to work in self- orga-
nizing teams where they have a true
impact on a cause that is meaningful to
them. Their leaders need to be meaning
makers and give them autonomy. They
of life. They want constant feedback,
reward for performance and to frequ-
ently change projects and roles.
like division of labor, talent specializa-
number of workers are no longer clim- tion, standardization, formalization,
bing the corporate ladder but rather role descriptions, annual appraisals
choosing to change employers or even and systems thinking in reward practi-
careers every few years. In a world of ces. And yes, although these practices
talent shortage, why hang around? A
- they impede agility and thus innovation.
nial generation is likely to have twice the Take the annual appraisal. Many stu-
number of jobs throughout their careers dies conclude that this exercise is out of
compared to their parents’ generation. date, as it has minimal or no impact on
Those younger than 34 said job-hopping performance, engagement or growth
would actually help their careers. for the individual being appraised. In our
era, employees need and want instant
RETHINKING THE and continuous feedback. In futu-
MANAGEMENT PLAYBOOK re-oriented organizations, leaders have
Traditional management principles regular check-ins with their employees
aimed at maintaining control and cre- where the focus is forward-looking and
- focused on learning and development,
blished with the perspective of the not on looking back on past performan-
organization as a hierarchy, meaning a ce. In future-oriented organizations,
system in which members of an orga- performance management is meant to
nization are ranked according to relati- foster positive emotions for the futu-
ve status or authority. In other words, re: personal visions and dreams. Career
- planning in the future will be focused on
mand-and-control regime. It typically -
involved management control practices al. Reward will move from systems and

rule-based thinking to a mechanism
that reinforces learning and developme-
nt. Reward will become growth-orien-
ted, individualized and transparent.
LEADERSHIP AS A SERVICE
world driven by purpose and meaning.
new paradigm. The leader is there to ser-
ve the employees, to put the needs of the
employees before anything else (even
the customers) to help them grow, learn
and perform at their best. The servant
leader’s main focus is the growth of his or
her people. Through growth of employ-
Technologies, a fast-growing Indian tech
revenue and 137,000 employees across
44 countries, is practising the philosop-
Ideapreneurs have the license to ideate,
- education, ethnicity, religion, natio-
root movement that has rallied the who-
SELF ORGANIZING TEAMS
Self-organizing teams are key to
developing agile organizations. Self-
organizing teams don’t have to wait for
a manager: they decide their own tasks
and how they will perform them. They
take responsibility for their work. For
such teams to truly succeed, some prin-
ciples must be in place, like rules for
teamwork, required skill set, competen-
cy development, commitment to deliv-
I have seen many enthusiastic self-or-
ganizing teams that have failed because
leaders (including myself) have unde-
restimated the need for good coaching
and investment in training for the teams
to succeed.
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
Diversity entails much more than the
dimension of gender. There are diversi-
ties in terms of age, sexual orientation,
nal origin and in terms of personali-
ties, emotions, thought patterns, and
PEOPLE
behaviors. As our world and our compe-
titive landscape becomes more complex
and diverse, so must we as organiza-
tions if we are to keep up with the world
around us and be able to understand
and deliver what it wants from us.
Diversity in the workplace gives us
the opportunity for new perspectives,
increased creativity and more innova-
tion. In the future organization, diversi-
ty and inclusion are part of the DNA of
sustainable companies.
H
amel argues that it is time for us
to create organizations that are
In HR communities we talk about
which requires nothing short of full-sca-
le reinvention.
Future organizations must put
humans at the center of their business
strategies and bring meaning back to
the workplace – that’s how the orga-
nization will thrive and sustain itself
through innovation and growth.
PEOPLE
FIVE LESSONS
FOR JOURNALISM IN THE
AGE OF RAGE
The disruption of media business has fundamentally
changed and challenged journalism. Karin Pettersson,
you need to learn as a journalist today.
Karin
Petterson
Director of Public Policy
Years in Schibsted: 9
T
My dream job as a child:
he news media industry has
long lamented the broken
business models that fol-
lowed the digital revolution.
Today, a majority of the digi-
tal advertising money goes
to Facebook and Google, and
media companies are strugg-
ling to reinvent themselves through
digital subscriptions. But the disruption
60
also fundamentally changed and chal-
lenged journalism itself.
Historically, journalism has played a
central role in shaping public discour-
se. News organizations have served as
gatekeepers and chosen what to ampli-
fy. They have always been good at cat-
ching the audience’s attention and
driving engagement. It has, however,
also been about ethics and purpose.
- small shop. But in the news ecosys-
rent logic than the old. Today, journa-
lism is just one of many actors providing
information on what is going on in the
world and exists as one of many provi-
ders of content in an ecosystem where
lies travel faster than the truth, and that
is optimizing for anger, fear and strong
emotions.
In this new world, journalism needs
to change, and journalists need to learn
about the landscape and avoid the
pitfalls. If we don’t, journalism risks
becoming a mirror to the anger-driven
social network logic – instead of a coun-
terweight on the side of truth and reason.
Given these new challenges, here are
rage.
1
DON’T GET YOUR NEWS,
ANGLES OR SOURCES
FROM TWITTER
Twitter is, compared to the big-
ger social network platforms, a
tem it is hugely important, and unfor-
Journalists, politicians and pundits
are overrepresented on the platform,
and so are propagandists and manipu-
lators. Still, many journalists spend a
Photo: Randy Colas/Unsplash
PEOPLE
disproportionate amount of time on
Twitter, looking for angles and topics.
Since the platform is easy to manipula-
te for anyone with access to money or a
network of bots, this makes them easy
targets for manipulation.
Twitter also distorts journalism in
more subtle ways. Journalists love
engagement. Due to the nature of the
platform, the content that journalists
get the strongest reactions to on Twitter
tends to be variations on the big topic
of the day – the stories that everyone
are already covering. When journalists
spend too much time on Twitter, this
can lead to a dumbing down of covera-
ge in a time when what we need is inde-
pendent, thoughtful journalism looking
for the untold stories.
2
DON’T BE
A USEFUL IDIOT
The tools of social networks were
built to connect people and give
them tools for expression. It was
never the plan, as American tech jour-
nalist and thinker danah boyd writes,
be weaponized to radicalize people
towards extremism, gaslight publics, or
That is, however, what has happe-
ned. The hard part for journalists is how
to learn to avoid becoming useful idiots
playing into the hands of those using the
platforms to amplify their agenda. To do
that, journalists need to understand how
manipulation works on social networks.
danah boyd uses the example of the
anti-Islam pastor Terry Jones, who in
2010 began using social networks to
publicly threaten to burn the Quran.
His goal was to attract the attention
of mainstream news media to promo-
te his congregation, which had around
62
50 members. A network of bloggers
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issu-
ed a statement condemning him, which
led to massive media coverage. When he
covered by every news outlet. The inci-
dent led to riots in Afghanistan, resul-
ting in the deaths of 12 persons.
The question is: was it necessary and
important to cover this spectacle? Should
the media report on racist provocations
3 5
POLITICAL ATTACKS
VS RELEVANT MEDIA
CRITIQUE
The architecture of the new public
sphere makes life harder for jour-
nalists. But is also makes their job more
important than before.
It’s harder because they can’t sing-
le-handedly set the agenda. But also
because the undermining of journalism
is a central part of the political program
of many right-wing populist parties cur-
rently on the rise.
The attacks on journalism from
in the Philippines and Victor Orbán in
Hungary are not isolated events. They
are part of pattern. The undermining of
the free press is at the center of the poli-
tical agenda for authoritarians across
the globe.
one hand be aware of the fact that jour-
nalism is under attack – and at the same
4
BETTER COVERAGE
OF BIG TECH
The rise of big tech is one of the
most important stories of our
generation. Facebook has over 2.3
-
ty of Americans get their news from soci-
al networks and the same is true of most
European countries. Never in the history
of humankind have companies existed
with such reach and impact on informa-
tion and human communication. These
new global superpowers need to be scru-
tinized and reported on, not only from
democracy, innovation, and politics, and
GET USED TO
THE HATRED
Journalists who learned the tra-
de in the old days are not used to
the hatred, criticism, threats and
aggression directed towards them that
-
re today. Since a large part of the attacks
are politically motivated, it is unrealistic
to believe that they will simply go away.
Instead, journalism needs to learn how
to thrive and stay focused in this new
environment. Individually, journalists
-
vation to go on, without retreating or
becoming overly defensive. On an orga-
nizational level, editors need to learn
how to deal with the stress and psycho-
logical pressure that follows, and media
organizations should set up smart and
employees if they haven’t already. At the
end of the day, the attacks are, in a way, a
testimony to the importance of the work
journalists are doing. (I don’t know how
much that helps, though.)
Good journalism has never been as
important as now, and never as hard.
Journalism can and will survive. But it
needs to learn how to navigate in a new
environment.

Media businesses keep looking into new solutions, models and experiences to create
Editor Mikaela Åkerman.
HYPER-PERSONALIZATION
No two readers are the same. That is the
approach of the idea to hyper-persona-
lize users’ media experience. With the
help of modern technologies such as
-
ning, publishers can experiment with
all sorts of parameters to increase enga-
gement and satisfaction with their pro-
best time of the day to deliver content to
an individual reader and learning which
MULTI-CHANNEL EXPERIENCE
The trend of creating a multi-channel
experience, or omnichannel experience,
is neither new nor limited to the media
industry. All kinds of brands, from retail
to banking, are looking to create a seam-
services and platforms. Most busines-
ses today have marketing campaigns, a
website, a blog, and other social network
articles work best to draw readers in. It
-
outs and designs, identifying the best
channel of communication, and dis-
to deliver content to them. It all comes
down to getting to know habits, inte-
rests, and preferences of readers as a
way to increase loyalty and thereby,
hopefully, accelerating subscription
growth and reducing churn.
channels alongside their core pro-
duct. The key, some experts argue, is to
make sure they work together and form
an integrated, consistent experience.
Companies looking to use this technique
are encouraged to align their messaging,
goals, objectives, and design across each
channel and device to enhance their
TRENDS | PEOPLE
EDITION-
BASED
PUBLISHING
Forget endless streams of constant
news updates. Editions are back in. As
which can feel overwhelming at times,
readers are looking for boiled-down,
summarized, to-the-core news pro-
ducts. News apps with a limited num-
ber of stories and newsletters alike are
rising in popularity. The behavior goes
hand in hand with the observation that
readers are increasingly involved in
micro-moments of news consumption.
Our time is limited, and so is our atten-
tion spans. Readers want to feel upda-
ted and accomplished in a short amount
of time, whether it is while waiting for
the bus, standing in line, or having a few
moments over during lunch. Studies
also suggest that frequency is one of the
highest predictors for retention. In other
words, making sure people use your ser-
how long they use it for or how deep into
it they go.
63
PEOPLE
WE LOVE
LOCAL
journalism, beginning in Malmö in southern Sweden, in spite
mainly because of a new, scalable technique.
Lotta
Folcker
Years in Schibsted: 5
My dream job as a child: Punk rocker and
I
farmer
of the local newspaper Folkbladet
in Idrottsgatan in the town of
Norrköping. I had got myself an
internship at the paper that was
to become one of my much-frequ-
ented places during high school. I
forced my friends to appear in my own
youth spread every Tuesday. I inter-
viewed them and their buddies about
in the small town of Valdemarsvik and
about anorexia. My whole world was
concluded on a two-page spread every
work smoking in the basement waiting
- When I moved to Stockholm and
ting machine was just two stairs down
bumps in the road, it is about the local
64
football team and about bands play-
ing in basements, letters to the editor
and death announcements, but also
investigative reporting about the petty
wangling and greediness among local
than ever for journalism. In the age of
Trump, fake news, Cambridge Analytica
and Facebook, journalism is one of the
few means at hand to rebuild trust,
to get closer to the reader. Stockholm
knows precious little about Malmö.
People in Malmö know that. Here we
need to shorten the distance between
towns and cities and perhaps someti-
mes between small town and town. It
depends a bit on how far the technolo-
gy can take us.
The campaign in Malmö consists
of local voices, local home pages and
reporters in place – all of it in order to
new tech, not least in the form of robots
local football.
a temporary summer job at Svenska
Dagbladet, I had been at several local
newspaper branches. But the one that
 PEOPLE

At 190 meters, Turning Torso is the tallest building in

Scandinavia, and has become a modern symbol of Malmö.

Photo: Pontus Ohlsson/Unsplash

65
PEOPLE
in Damallsvenskan, the Swedish women’s league soccer championship.
prepared to
take on the American giants in
local money.
paper of Folkbladet, called Östgöten
where I worked when I was a student.
learnt that the journalism was depen-
ding on revenues even though the jour-
nalism must be independent. I was
there the day the last issue of Östgöten
was published and had a funeral beer
surrounded by men in tears. The paper
and Rolle in the reception knew half
the people in town. Today Folkbladet
has moved away from Idrottsgatan. It
is nowadays owned by the competition,
66
immortalized with a statue in his hometown Malmö.
Photo: Andreas Hillergren
Norrköpings Tidningar, and the two
groups of journalists share the canteen.
assure that the costs aren’t growing too
But now there are three main reasons
- are an apparent alternative, but this is
-
re is money to collect.
Indeed, the fact that the users want
the content is nothing new. During my
whole life as a journalist, the readers
Photo: Krister Hansson
have said that they were interested in
local news. The question is how much
papers are putting vast resources into
digital subscriptions giving readers
access to the full content, a business
model that is probably right for them
because their users are accustomed to
paying for the paper and it is hard for
-
tent with advertisements since they can-
A
that one charges for journalism
but there is still a group that is
expecting free news and cur-
rently chooses to get its updates
elsewhere. The growing American giants
our business model (Freemium) is upda-
ting news for free online, while charging

Artist Danielle Wendin was allowed to cover the Malmö apartment building
means that our readers can easily, and
without paying, access our local content.
We are not building a separate app, we
are not building a new brand. Instead, we
ask our 3.9 million daily readers if they
also want to have an update about what
is happening in their community.
Technology is an important prerequi-
site for our campaign, but development
has a high cost as well.
beginning, because the same tech that
has been built for Malmö can be used for
every place in Sweden and it takes only
one day to implement. The same goes
for our robots. They are already trained.
We only have to connect more APIs for
them to start writing about places like
- for the local money. It is primarily in the
paign can only be worthwhile if it can be
scaled up to other places.
Tech has also given us advantages in
not only how we can trace and structu-
re old articles for local use, it can also
Photo: Krister Hansson
enable our drive to have more niche
material. It also gives us new possibili-
ties for automatic updating of articles.
B
usinesswise, the local ad mar-
ket is big game. The local papers
reach any more, neither in print
nor online. A digital enterprise
Google, but we claim with vigor that we
have a better contextual environment
and that this will be increasingly impor-
tant ahead. Furthermore, we already
around Sweden. They are prepared to
towns, where we have established a
local sales organization, that it is of inte-
At the same time, we do not only see
a traditional advertisement deal. We are
hoping for a large part of the revenues
PEOPLE
to be converting deals where we send
-
nies and services. Here, we already work
with Schibsted’s Growth unit, which is
receive relevant content together with
If we can create good content and good
user experience, we believe that the
chances are good – and we learn a lot
during the journey.
Thanks’ to new tech, it has never
been so easy for a national paper to
expand its local journalistic covera-
ge. There has never been such strong
demand from the market. And maybe
it has never been this important to get
closer to one’s readers. Knowing this,
in Malmö.
It was simply too important to not
dare testing. Again.
67
INDEX

70 Break them up
76 Time to take responsibility
78 Trends
80 Tech empowers patients
84 Your stupid brain is the biggest risk
88 Meet our people
90 Make it happen inhouse
92 A new look to bring our story out
Biz
 BIZ

BREAK
THEM
UP
Will the history

Age repeat
itself? When
Big Tech has
gone from good
to evil, voices
are raised
to break the
companies up.

71
BIZ

Ohio happened upon Standard Oil’s original trust deed in a

book. The preface of the book read:

”This fragment of the great law of corporations is written

to throw light upon a dark subject. During the past twelve
months certain mysterious combinations of manufacturers
in this country, called “Trusts”, have sprung into prominence.
They have increased rapidly, and have excited the alarm of
thinking men. Their movements and plan of organization are
secret, and are known to but few.”
– William Cook, 1888

Standard Oil under the Sherman Act, challenging another

M
- the Gilded Age, both Standard Oil operators and Republican
ge already in the 1960s, and boy did he get
one. It all started out so well – The internet
was a church of connection, education, and
democracy and its priests promised not to be
evil. At the pinnacle of optimism, in the ear-
ly 2010s, social networks powered the demo-
Dan cratic movement of the Arab Spring and Mark
Ouchterlony Zuckerberg opened up on primetime TV about his home,
SVP Schibsted Today, the naïvety has been replaced with realism.
Financial Services
Years in Schibsted: 14 Mark gives interviews in the Senate instead of on Oprah’s.
My dream job as a
child: Spaceman Big Tech was no longer a poster child for good, but a force
of evil – a manipulator of elections, a dampener of free spe-
ech, and a threat to fair competition. Because competition
and choice are good. Monopolies are bad. And if they hap-
pen anyways, Sherman will save the day.
famous John: Standard Oil owner John D. Rockefeller.
During the course of the lawsuit, and a sign of the times of
party henchmen swung into action trying to stop the young
and in no uncertain terms was he reminded that Rockefeller
Court ruled that Standard Oil was controlled by the trusts.
Standard Oil, like a hydra, rapidly dissolved the trust in a
meeting presided by Rockefeller and reformed as a corpo-
ration of New Jersey.
It was not until almost two decades later that the
Sherman Act case of 1911 – Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey
Have we now come full circle from Sherman and
Rockefeller? Former Secretary of State Robert Reich cer-
tainly thinks so and blogged about how the combined
wealth of Page, Brin, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, and
American population:

and his landmark federal competition law the Sherman ”They are the leaders of a second Gilded Age. In this new
Antitrust Act. A law that was passed by a unanimous House Gilded Age, we need to respond to them as forcefully as we did
-
polies, and that still today forms the basis for antitrust liti- — Robert Reich, 2019

said the purpose was to protect consumers:

”To protect the consumers by preventing arrangements

designed, or which tend, to advance the cost of goods to the
consumer.”
— John Sherman, 1890

The historical backdrop of this competition law was the

Gilded Age – gold on the outside and something far less
illustrious on the inside. Railroad and oil barons built vast
empires with monopolistic tendencies, and when chal-

denied the problem and obfuscated the ownership and

governance structure of their empires behind complex lay-
ers of trusts. There they lay hidden from public view, but as
the story goes, the young attorney general David Watson in

72

On the center stage of antitrust and regulation stands pre-
sidential candidate and Senator Elizabeth Warren, hitting
last few years. In early 2019 she turned the volume up to 11,
laying out a regulatory plan to break up Big Tech, including
Amazon, Google, Apple, and Facebook. Spreading her mes-
sage, she turned to Facebook to advertise her plan among
voters, because where else do you go these days? And in an
- moting competition, antitrust laws tended to do exactly the
ed by Facebook, and then received support by Republican
Senator Ted Cruz.
”First time I’ve ever retweeted @ewarren But she’s right –
Big Tech has way too much power to silence Free Speech.
They shouldn’t be censoring Warren, or anybody else. A
serious threat to our democracy.
— Ted Cruz, 2019
Big Tech has historically been seen as supporters of the
Democratic party, and Senator Cruz’s line of attack, that
Facebook is a monopoly of free speech, is perhaps not the
same argument as Senator Warren is making. But in their
call to action, they stand united.
under the Sherman Act include the breakup of American
the antitrust actions versus AT&T are seen among the most
-
ovate on the transistor – perhaps laying the foundations
tion to long-distance telephony and innovation to mobile
-
communication.
monopolistic and that its business conduct unlawfully
attempted to squash competition from Apple, Netscape,
The suit was fought both in the courtroom and in the
BIZ
public arena, with many sides weighing in. One famous
instance was the open letter from The Independent
”Antitrust is supposed to be about protecting consumers
against higher prices and other consequences of mono-
poly power. [...] However, consumers did not ask for these
races by turning to government for protection.”
— The Independent Institute, 1999
Nobel economist Milton Friedman, famous for criticizing
government intervention in almost all forms, also weighed
in. In 1999 he wrote an essay outlining his belief that the
progress. Is it really in the self-interest of Silicon Valley to
”When I started in this business, as a believer in compe-
tition, I was a great supporter of antitrust laws; I thought
enforcing them was one of the few desirable things that the
government could do to promote more competition. But as I
watched what actually happened, I saw that, instead of pro-
opposite.”
— Milton Friedman, 1999
Friedman worried, in part, that the human energy and
money spent on lawsuits would be better spent on inno-
vation and product development. The computer industry
was moving so much faster than the legal process. So, who
knew what the shape of the industry would be at the end
of the suit? In part, Friedman worried that antitrust very
quickly becomes regulation.
This line of criticism was not new, and already in 1967
Alan Greenspan, later to become Chairman of the Federal
Reserve, was arguing the Sherman Act’s negative impact on
innovation.
The court ordered a breakup
of Microsoft, but after an
appeal to the Supreme Court
the ruling was postponed.
73
BIZ

without a doubt changing. Antitrust law professor Rebecca

Allensworth at Vanderbilt concluded:

”Ten years ago, it was all about being champions of these

companies. Now it’s very fashionable to hate on them.”
— Rebecca Allensworth, 2019

W
hy is the mood changing? On the side of market
dominance, Google’s and Facebook’s capture of
70 percent of digital advertising dollars has raised
eyebrows. When, in addition, Google and Amazon
were caught or suspected of unfairly promoting
their own products on top of search result listings, the
surprise turned into a deep frown. On the side of privacy,

It is perhaps no surprise
the Cambridge Analytica scandal. And when Facebook exe-
cutives were caught or suspected of Gilded Age style hand-
ling of situation, the frown turned into outright anger. And

that the populist-in-chief has same social platforms.

”When Facebook users learned last spring that the com-

tweeted out his disdain for pany had compromised their privacy in its rush to expand,
allowing access to the personal information of tens of mil-

Amazon and Jeff Bezos. extent of the problem.”

Fought Through Crisis, New York Times, 2018

When a society feels anxious, the regulatory apparatus

” No one will ever know what new products, processes, kicks in. Both because it might be a highly relevant reac-
machines, and cost-saving mergers failed to come into exis- tion from civil servants, and also because it is a popular and
tence, killed by the Sherman Act before they were born.” politically motivated response to how voters are feeling. It is
— Alan Greenspan, 1967 perhaps no surprise that the populist-in-chief has tweeted

Futurist Amy Webb argues that regulation is more impor-

Gates, the case was famously ended in a settlement without tant than ever right now on the global arena, with GDPR in
breakup. Ironically, this was partially due to the presiding
Judge Jackson himself playing the publicity game and
giving interviews. The settlement was notably against the
will of nine states, including the state of California, which
thought the settlement but a slap on the wrist.
The case was also famous for using professors from tech-
nology and business schools such as MIT and Stanford

of Silicon Valley. Stanford is the alma mater of Google foun-

Hastings, and Tesla founder Elon Musk, and certainly seems

at the epicenter of this wave of technology companies.
So, will Big Tech of today run the same Golgotha as

now on the bipartisan agenda? Will we soon see a unani-

mous House of Congress taking the Sherman Act into the

74
 BIZ

-
ming Big Tech and the creators of the large platforms, he is
still concluding:

”We demonstrated that the Web had failed instead of ser-

ved humanity, as it was supposed to have done, and failed
in many places. [The Web] has ended up producing—with no
deliberate action of the people who designed the platform –
a large-scale emergent phenomenon which is anti-human.”

On September 6th 2019, 14 attorneys general launched

a bipartisan antitrust investigation of Facebook, prioriti-
zing the mishandling of personal data. On September 9th,
attorneys general for 50 states announced an antitrust
investigation of Google, focusing on its dominance in digi-

- -
ly to go through, Amy Webb predicts in her trend report for
2019, but big tech companies will have to divert attention
and funds. protection to her portfolio to boot. Anti-human or not, it
In addition to cadres of lawyers and lobbyists hired by is clear that regulation and antitrust are rapidly rising to
Big Tech, the political critics of antitrust and regulation are the top of the corporate
rapidly mobilizing. The angles of counterattack are par- agenda.
tially along the same lines as Friedman and Greenspan,
that regulation hampers innovation. And some commen-
tators are claiming that the technical challenge in breaking
out Instagram from Facebook are insurmountable, despi-
te being run by some of the world’s smartest and most
well-paid engineers.

T
here is also a new theme: geopolitics
and Chinese tech’s rise to the fore-
front. Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu
-
le. Big Tech of the East will sure-
ly take advantage if Facebook, Google,
and Apple face restrictions or even
breakup. Former Google CEO Eric
Schmidt is arguing that regulato-
ry bias hurts American consumers
and hands China a competitive
advantage. Facebook’s COO Sheryl
Sandberg is appealing to emotions
on CNBC.

”While people are concerned with

the size and power of tech compa-
nies, there’s also a concern in the
United States with the size and power
of Chinese companies, and the reali-
zation that these companies are not
going to be broken up.”
— Sheryl Sandberg, 2019

Another appeal to basic emotions has

BIZ

TIME FOR
RESPONSIBILITY
When our democracies are succumbing to the threat of digital judicial and regulatory defense of demo-
cracy with an equally important need to
manipulation, social networks should be held co-responsible protect freedom of speech. In Schibsted
for the spreading of lie campaigns, writes Einar Hålien. He is we have evaluated possible solu-
the co-author of a Schibsted report on how to handle these tions intended to create this balance in
networks. Freedom of Speech online: a need for a

Einar of Americans had not been lied to and

Hålien
Adviser
Years in Schibsted: 22 (including 11 years
as editor-in-chief of Bergens Tidende)
manipulated through social networks
in 2016? Would there have been a majo-
Was the outcome in the Norwegian
manipulation?
The social networks typically regard
themselves as providers of tech without
responsibility for the content that is car-
ried by the network, just as the telecom
companies provide distribution through
cable or satellite. On the other hand
some people feel that a solution could
be to regulate the networks in the same

“W
My dream job as a child: Fireman Nobody knows the answer to these
questions, but the mere fact that they
ords and pictures are are raised is detrimental to the trust in
powerful weapons. democracy and in the democratic insti-
tutions. Politicians and public servants
So says the end of the are targeted in the campaign of lies, and
code of ethics of the the
Norwegian press. If you themselves. In a worst case scenario this
transfer them to the leads to fewer people being willing to
global social networks, take on positions of trust, and the public
you could say that they are distribu- institutions are partly blocked.
ting weapons for free to everybody who The problems are described well by
wants them but are refusing to shoulder - data about every single user. At the
any responsibility if someone gets hurt. tions. One thing that makes this com-
plicated is the necessity to balance a
fashion as media run by an editor.
We think that both solutions have
their weaknesses, and propose that
the networks be regulated as a new
communication.
functionality for liking and sharing and
using algorithms for steering the con-
-
tion based on enormous amounts of
same time, they cannot be called publi-
cists simply because their work is not

76

publicistic work. The networks have
They don’t produce or edit content and
they don’t run their businesses accor-
ding to any common ethical rulebook.
The social networks have revolutio-
nized people’s possibilities to commu-
nicate with each other and be a part of
a community. They have also provided
chances to speak to all those who are
suppressed by authoritarian leaders.
The value of this for the community is
formidable and we must not regulate in
such a way that these values are lost. It
would for example totally ruin the core
character of the social networks if we
were to force them to seek advance cle-
arance of everything that the users are
posting.
T
he solution that we support and
wish to prepare for is to make
the networks remove unlawful
been reported. Germany has tri-
ed implementing this system but it does
rules are interpreted to mean that one
has only to act against the single concre-
te posting that has been reported. The
networks feel no obligation to act aga-
inst similar postings made by others.
Those who, for example, want to insti-
gate terror of course use this – and the
Read the full
report on
Schibsted.com.
so that the obligation of the networks
to remove illicit content is relevant for
all postings with the same content. We
also propose that there should be a rule
saying that users that have already been
exposed to the illicit material are infor-
med that it has been removed and why.
- the press. This gives us a
cal to give the networks a participa-
tor’s responsibility for spreading illicit
content which they haven’t produced
are used in cases when the law has
been broken.
come far with suggestions as to how
networks should be regulated when
it comes to spreading dangerous con-
tent. A weakness in a lot of this work is
-
- laws regulating freedom of speech vary
- common set of laws will most probably
- be a negative experience for the most
rity, such laws can lead to substantial
restrictions on the freedom of speech,
- te an over-arching set of rules establish-
about every piece of news he doesn’t
like. We can imagine a similar misuse of
It shouldn’t be prohibited to lie,
but what should be restricted is the
damage democracy or democratic insti-
tutions, systematically and on a large
scale.
As an alternative to creating new
speech with the aim of limiting the
networks, we propose using the rules
we already have in our penal code. Here
we have a multitude of rules, aimed
at protecting free elections and the
democratic institutions. The problem
is that the networkers’ responsibility as
- ble of changing anything in such con-
ned and the rules have to a large extent
been dormant.
In our view it is crucial that laws set-
ting limits on freedom of speech in the
future are established and managed
Illustration: Liv Widell
BIZ
widely, and any attempt to create a
open and liberal countries. On the other
-
ing networks as a new judicial category
establishing the networks’ responsibili-
of free speech, demanding transparen-
cy, for example about the consequen-
ces of the way the algorithms are set up
and demanding supervision of the set
of laws through national control. Each
individual country should go through
its regulations on illicit statements and
make appropriate adjustments in order
to clarify the participating responsibili-
ty of the networks.
A
s for content from media run
by editors and distributed by
networks, we suggest that the
networks would be free from
responsibility and thus incapa-
tent. This is in line with the proposition
in 2016 from the Alliance of Independent
Press Councils of Europe. The publish-
ing enterprise is already regulated in
law and the responsibility is clearly pla-
ced on editors. Therefore, it does not
make sense, and would weaken the
trust in content from editor-managed
media, if the networks were to alter the
content that an editor had already
taken responsibility for.
The Scandinavian countries
are in the top of the league
when it comes to freedom
of speech and freedom of
chance to be listened to
internationally when
these topics are on the
agenda. But for this to
happen, it is necessa-
ry for politicians and
others with an interest
in the management of
societies to take part in
the debate. The threat to
fundamental values that
is presently growing will not
disappear by itself.
77
BIZ | TRENDS

NO MORE DOUBTS: MOBILE

ADS DRIVE GROCERY SALES
Annie
Lidesjö
Director Global Insight, Schibsted
Marketing Services
Years in Schibsted: 9 years
My dream job as a child: Designer
mobile advertising you reach main-
ly people younger than 49 years old.
via direct mail, since they’re not using
that channel as much as the older age
They are the ones who have primarily
seen the mobile ad (both among tho-
Schibsted Retail
Study is done in
groups.
In the study we also asked store visito-
se who have been exposed to the digi- collaboration rs how they would like to have access to
tal campaign and among the people with Retail -
interviewed in-store). This means that Academics. The med that people younger than 49 years
study is made in

A
this group both in terms of the attitu- the digital mobile ad, while those older
Design, a model
new Schibsted study shows - than 49 years old still want it by direct
that allows us
that mobile advertising drives cent in consideration and preference mail.
to isolate the
people to stores and increase as well as + 30 percent in buying inten- These results show how important
tion) and attitude towards this type of advertising and it is for retailers to start digitizing their
have been doubtful about the advertising. thus reduce the
noise. but at the same time maintain the tra-
the huge advertising clutter that exists it comes to people younger than ditional medium to the older
today. 30, they are hard to reach costumers – until they
Eight out of ten Swedes use internet have become more
on their mobile phone daily and mobi- digital.
le is the medium with the largest reach
(even greater than tv, radio and out
of home advertising). Despite this the
-
ly unclear for the retail industry which
-
mers to the store and increase sales.
In the study Schibsted added mobi-
le advertising to six Ica Maxi stores’
existing advertising (consisting main-
ly of direct mail, social media and local
press).
The result was clear: there was an
increase of 1 percent additional visito-
rs to the stores, 15 percent more goods
sold and 14 percent increased sales of

the mobile ad.

products that works best in the local

area and when consumers become used
-
-
alist and project manager for the study.
With stores that are more easily
accessible to consumers than Ica Maxi,

than this study shows.

The study also showed that with

78

Lots of things are going on in the marketplace area. Here are some trends summarized
by Schibsted Daily Editor Ellen Montén.
GEN Z GOES OFFLINE TO SHOP
While Millennials are embracing mobi-
le shopping, Gen Z is searching for ways
to disconnect from their phones. The
younger, digital-native generation has a
more complicated relationship with digi-
tal services and is more concerned with
the impact they have on their mental
AMAZON IS A MARKETPLACE
2019 was the year Amazon went from
being a retailer to being a marketplace.
- Resale-as-a-service (Raas) is a new key
percent!) came from its third-party mar-
ketplace, not from its online retail busi-
ness. The marketplace has helped the
company to grow fast, but handling mil-
lions of third-party sellers is not easy.
There’s a growing black market that
to cheat the platform and mislead custo-
mers. Some of the cheats include bribing
Amazon employees to gain information
or avoid disciplinary actions, while oth-
ers focus more on removing negative
reviews, set record increase in sales volu-
health. For these young shoppers, visi-
ting physical stores can be a nice way
to disconnect from the stresses of soci-
al networks and digital channels. This
means e-commerce services need to
stressful for their younger customers.
month for the top spot in the marketpla-
ce’s product search results.
Appeal has ruled that Amazon can be
held accountable for products sold by
third-party sellers on its marketplace.
According to the ruling judge, Amazon
may be liable since its business model
themselves from the customer, leaving
customers injured by defective products
with no direct recourse to the third-par-
also investigating whether Amazon
is using its market position to hurt its
third-party sellers by, for example, sel-
ling its own similar products.
TRENDS | BIZ
NEXT UP:
RESALE-AS-
A-SERVICE
business area for the fast-growing resa-
le startup Thredup. The company’s
-
hand shopping, features like resale pop-
up stores and store credits for retail
shoppers who sell their secondhand
goods. For example, Thredup will help
Macy’s to set up pop-up secondhand
shops in selected stores.
Thredup already receives over
100,000 secondhand items every day,
and now it is building a distribution cen-
ter that can process up to 50 million uni-
que items each year to handle the new
inventory from its Raas partners.
79
 BIZ

TECH
EMPOWERS
PATIENTS
Healthcare is undergoing a revolution where we are moving new kind of care that is slowly starting
to be incorporated into care processes.
towards a consumerization of healthcare, empowering patients In fact, Sweden and Norway, have been
to take control of their own health. This is one of the reasons at the forefront when it comes to imple-
menting new tech in healthcare, and

e-prescriptions which has had a similar

Kajsa years, something has happened though.

Demographic changes and increasing
role for healthcare to what Bank ID has

Gatenbeck wealth have made the sector grow fast.

Investment Manager, Schibsted Growth
Years in Schibsted: Soon 2
My dream job as a child: Professional
Demand for healthcare is rising all over
the world and as it is not very vulnerable
to economic cycles, investors have star-
ted to invest more in this area lately.
the new digital primary healthcare servi-
ces would not exist. We have also been
early adopters of electronical medical
records, another necessary platform for
digital health.

H S
freestyle skier
ealthcare is truly a subject
that concerns all of us. We
will all get sick, at some point
and to some degree, and we
will all have to interact with
the healthcare system to
varying degrees throughout
our entire lives.
- From a consumer perspective (in this
re is about to enter a period of rapid
change. But compared to industries
transformation has been going on for
the past 20 years, it started much later
within healthcare. One could actual-
ly argue that healthtech is today where
internet was back in the 90s. The past
There are four major drivers of this
rapid change: the government, the
consumers, technology and competition.
From a government perspective, with
an ageing population and rising health-
care costs, it’s vital to decrease adminis-
trative time for doctors and nurses and
automate whatever they can in order to
reduce costs and make care processes
case patients), we are used to having
critical and high-quality services on
demand in a digital world. So with chan-
ging consumer behavior in other indu-
stries, we start to demand the same
digital savviness when it comes to care.
intelligence, wearables etc. enables a
ince larger industrial players
haven’t managed to fully imple-
ment new technology in their care
processes yet, there has been an
opportunity for digital newco-
perspective and have a strong focus on
patient experience, which has truly chal-
lenged the traditional players’ way of
providing care.
Among these four drivers, technolo-
gy plays the most fundamental role in
the healthcare industry’s transition. In
fact, some even argue that in the coming
decade, developers will have a greater
impact on the future of healthcare than
doctors. There is no doubt that tech
incumbents’ interest in the healthcare

81
BIZ

sector has increased rapidly in recent
years. Earlier this year Apple’s CEO Tim
Cook stated that when looking back in
a decade, he hopes that the area whe-
re Apple has made the biggest contribu-
tion will be health. Not communication,
not entertainment, but health.
treating people when they are already
sick, to preserving the health of healt-
hy people before they get sick. When
patients are empowered, they can track
more, hopefully prevent illness and stay
healthy.
healthcare choices. This changes the
relationship between the doctor or nurse
and the patient. We (as in patients) have
new kinds of expectations of what a good
patient experience is, and we demand

Z
One of the most evident and pro-
from healthcare providers to patients.
New technology enables patients to
track their pulse, blood sugar level,
and calories in a way they haven’t been
able to do before which creates expert
patients, meaning patients who know
more about their health than their
doctors do. Consequently, we slowly
see how healthcare is now being orga-
nized around consumers, rather than
around institutions. This trend is called
patient empowerment, and is the cor-
nerstone of many of the new startups’
products and services.
When patients start to control their
own health, we are suddenly moving
from a system that largely cares about
the sick, to a system that cares largely
about the healthy. This is where the real
ooming in on the Nordics, there
is an expansive startup environ-
number of healthcare invest-
ments outcompeted the number
of number of investments and in terms
Most of these companies have a patient-
centric approach and go for the consu-
mer market. There have been numerous
new care-on-demand services laun-
ched in recent years that enables digital
smart self-monitoring services, allowing
patients to track their own health data.
When patients take control over their
health, they start to interact with the
health industry as consumers rather
than as passive patients and make active
This is something completely new for the
industry, but not for Schibsted. We know
consumers and know how to build and
scale consumer services.
The healthcare space is huge, and
Schibsted has slowly begun mapping
where along the patient journey it makes
most sense for us to invest. Obviously,
the patient situation becomes more
complex the sicker a patient is, and as
we know consumers, it makes more sen-
se for us to focus on the patient-centric
services in a prevention stage. It’s less
complex, and completely aligned with
placed on preserving health rather than
on treating the sickest patients.
This, together with the consumeriza-
tion of healthcare, is where Schibsted’s
opportunity appears – an opportunity to
help people actively stay healthy.

SCHIBSTED HEALTHTECH INVESTMENTS

• Ahum is a psychotherapy
service where patients and
therapies can meet.
• Hjemmelegene is a platform
that enables doctor home visits.
• Add Health Media consists of
one media business and one
investment business. Its media
business consists of health
portals such as Doktorn.com and
its investment business invests
super early, (almost pre-launch)
in various healthcare startups.
Through Add Health Media
Schibsted has also invested in:
• Belly Balance – a FemTech
people with IBS. Femtech are
tech companies focusing on the
women’s health market.
• Symbiome – a startup that
analyzes the balance of bacteria
in your gut.

82
 BIZ

THIS IS SCHIBSTED GROWTH

Schibsted Growth invests in smart digital
startups. The team is on the lookout for disrup-
tive, scalable and innovative business models
that create unique value. They help founders
businesses internationally and maximize growth
to become market leaders. Over the years
Schibsted Growth has made investments in
20
employees in
Sweden and
Norway.
companies like Blocket, Prisjakt, Bynk, Podme,

45
and teams establish their products, scale their

investments since
the start.

25
companies in the
portfolio.

700
employees in the
portfolio.

Kajsa Gatenbeck,
180
million euro

42
Helena Siegbahn,
Richard
Sandenskog, and
Erika Sahlqvist at
work in Schibsted
Growth's million euro

OUR INVESTMENT FOCUS AREAS

Fintech Commerce enablers Digital consumer Edtech Healthtech
B2C or B2B market- Empowering people Technology-driven services & media Empowering people Digital health is
places weith strong to make the most out companies buil- Empowering people to learn in new ways one of the themes
of their money. ding value around in their daily life and democratizing Schibsted Growth
e-commerce. through services and learning is currently looking
products into.

TM

83
BIZ

YOUR STUPID
BRAIN IS THE
BIGGEST RISK

Joacim
Lund
Years in Schibsted: 14.
My dream job as a child: Musician
Sabotage, intelligence attack or
kinds of cyber threats that can
clog your business. Turns out
opening the door for the hackers.
I
magine that you are an IT adminis-
trator and you are watching your
screen go black. Just like that, out
-
sing, and start looking around.
The same thing is happening eve-
screens go black. Some of them
display a message asking for ransom
money.
The company is under attack and the-
re is nothing you can do.
Two years ago, that is what happened
to the giant Danish company Maersk.
and is presently number 262 on Forbes’
list of the world’s wealthiest compa-
nies. I don’t know, but I am guessing
that Maersk had a state-of-the-art secu-
rity system.
As a Norwegian journalist, I always
read the yearly threat assessment
report from the police and the intelli-
gence service.
Both of them have for many years
pointed at foreign intelligence gathe-
ring and cyber attacks as one of the big-
gest threats to national security and to
Norwegian values. They are not talking
about any homogenous group. Some of
them can be business operatives wan-
ting to get their hands on industrial

84

secrets. Others can be uncouth crimi-
- can be to map and collect information
tion or are extortionists. Still others can
critical infrastructure. Or talented kids
However, if the men behind the scene
are a motley crew, it is still possible to
sort what they are doing into three dif-
ferent categories.
INTELLIGENCE
Intelligence is in a way the low-thres-
hold activity. Foreign powers or busi-
and networks in order to spy. The aim
about the defense and preparedness
sector, government, business, research
or crucial infrastructure.
Intelligence gathering is something
everybody is doing, but it shouldn’t be
BIZ
stage in a three-stage rocket. The next
worse comes to worse – sabotage.
INFLUENCING
private actors make decisions that
-
es or businesses. It is therefore useful
One can, as an example, imagine that
the very large Maersk shipping network
could be of interest for builders of ports.
Or that one major power or another has
an interest in destabilizing and crea-
85
BIZ
- not very frequent. When directed at an
bably read an endless number of artic-
les about this.
The Cambridge Analytical scandal
is an example. On orders from Steve
Bannon the company took advantage of
a loophole in Facebook’s rules and used
an inconspicuous app to gather user
data from around 50 million users. This
Cambridge Analytica was also involved
known. The somewhat unpleasant
development is that China, which has
- Proofpoint claims that 99 percent
encing, is cooperating more tightly with
Russia and has probably become more
- thoughtlessly on an attachment, added
liament and parties, to mention one
example, were hacked, just before a
general election, probably by Chinese
authorities.
SABOTAGE
Foreign powers and/or business actors
plant complex encrypted viruses, hit-
ting commercial activities or crucial
infrastructure in society. That is what
happened to Maersk. If it was a delibe-
- brain.
ly, I really don’t know. Many signs point
to it being a random incident. At Maersk
it was the malware Notpetya that block-
ed the whole business. It could have
been intended to be a Russian attack on
Belarus activities that went astray and
ended up blocking 50,000 end points in
130 nations.
The only good thing one can say
about targeted sabotage is that it is
86
enterprise, sabotage can prove cost-
categorized as an act of war. But there is
a high risk of sabotage becoming more
common in the future. In recent years
digital sabotage has been tested in ope-
rations against European countries.
Furthermore, the tools needed for sabo-
tage have become cheaper and better
so that smaller entities can be a serious
threat as well.
Just watch out.
S
o … how to protect oneself?
Well, if you run a business,
public or private, you should build
a wall, to use a worn-out political
hardware and ensure that everything
can have the safest data system in the
world but still be letting intruders in.
Recently, I read a report from the data
security company Proofpoint. It found
that the trend in the last two years has
Because information and data are valu-
mean both income and preparation for
future attacks: And the most interesting
thing is perhaps this: no intrusion or
attack is being blamed on system error.
What is lacking in many companies
is a security culture. Maybe the head of
IT shouldn’t have sole responsibility for
security. Maybe the head of HR should
be on the track. Maybe all employees
should be trained and be told that tech-
nology cannot always cover for them
and be informed that they themselves
are a considerable safety risk.
of the successful attacks are blamed
on one employee or other who clicked
sensitive information to a page on the
net that looked trustworthy or gave
away a password to someone who loo-
ked friendly.
The big, big majority of attacks are
directed at humans and human nature.
Because the machines and the security
systems are only one part of it, human
beings the other.
So, in the end there is one risk that
is bigger than all the others: my stupid
BIZ

87
BIZ | MEET OUR PEOPLE

LENDO EXPORTS THE

SCANDINAVIAN CULTURE

L
endo is the most rapidly growing brand
in the Schibsted portfolio, launched in
three markets in 2019. It all started in
Sweden 12 years ago. Now the service

also established in Norway, Finland, Denmark,

Poland and Austria – and in Spain from the

No doubt, the focus is to grow and export

Blocket – whose concept has been launched

in more than 20 countries all over the world.
Having this experience within Schibsted is
of course of great help when planning for

for the European expansion says.

Deciding which countries to get into is a
thorough process, she explains. The team
goes through several steps where they investi-
gate the size of the market, number of consu-
mer loans, legal boundaries, digital maturity,
banks and other partners.

large growth and an established system of

physical brokers – and not least, they are

When entering a new country, Mikaela and

her team have to start from scratch – she des-
cribes it like starting with a blank sheet. But
the Scandinavian heritage and being part of
Schibsted, is of help and in Austria, Willhaben
– a former Schibsted marketplace, now part of
Adevinta – has been a door opener.
Mikaela Grännby
The most interesting, and sometimes sur-
prising, challenges have been cultural issues. Years in Schibsted: 5
My dream job as a child: Movie director
Scandinavian working culture. The foreign
teams I work with think we are nice, and I like
nice teams. They allow you to make mistakes

88

SUCCESS
FOR DIGITAL
SUBSCRIPTIONS
In Bergens Tidene digital subscribtions
have become a success story. In four
years, the total number of subscribers
has increased by 30 percent.
not good. With several years of losing
customers’ hopes were low. Now it’s
chief Øyulf Hjertenes.
The recent success is built on three
the idea of creating more value. Since
the launch in January 2019, BT now
has 12,000 subscribers to the Premium
news on bt.no and to a digital archive,
crosswords, sudoku and more.
expected. And even if the price is rather
The concept has been developed
together with Schibsted’s other regional
newspapers and is only the beginning
of a strategy to secure that they all are
- we’re learning more about digital marke-
ble on a long term.
company like Schibsted, with access
to product development and so many
says Øyulf.
Øyulf Hjertenes
Editor-in-chief and CEO, Bergens Tidene
Years in Schibsted: 16
My dream job as a child: Carpenter
DICOPAY
MAKES IT EASY
TO GET PAYED
Dicopay’s mission is to make it super
easy for small businesses in the servi-
ce sector to get paid. With the app and
a few clicks, they can invoice directly
get is that our users think they’ve done
something wrong – because it was so
To Marie the service is almost a
hygiene factor in our digital society.
so easy to buy and pay for today online
and with your phone. Why should it take
a month before the bill from your pain-
ter arrives? And why should companies
within the service sector have to wait
Dicopay is a young startup company
that Schibsted Growth recently has inve-
sted in. Marie says that the support from
the Growth team is very important.
experienced experts. At the moment
Marie knows exactly what she enjoys
most with her job:
Marie Lundberg
Years in Schibsted: Schibsted invested in
Dicopay 2019
My dream job as a child: Ballerina or
architect
MEET OUR PEOPLE | BIZ
“WE MAKE SURE
EXPERTS ARE
UP TO DATE”
Since a few years back, Schibsted has
a Public Policy team, which is working
experts on issues that are important
I get to process issues which in the end
The team works with stakeholders
become a discussion partner and contri-
bute with information and knowledge
businesses. The latest project is a report
about social networks (read all about it
on pages 76–77).
publishing and digital markets is low.
We want to make sure that the people
That is a challenge, since implemen-
level it takes seven years.
decides the terms for our businesses. So
we’re doing this to protect independent
journalism and a sustainable develop-
ment for new technology – fundamental
Rebecka Wulfing
at Public Policy
Years in Schibsted: 0.5 +
My dream job as a child: Actually – to do
what I do now.
89
BIZ
MAKE IT
HAPPEN
INHOUSE
How do you foster innovation? Schibsted Next Media is
looking into new media products and is dependent on new
reach successful internal innovation.
Frida
Kvarnström
Years in Schibsted: 9+
My dream job as a child: Sports
I
commentator
nnovation – a word on every busi-
ness leader’s lips nowadays. The
new ever-changing landscape with
more dynamic competition than
ever is driven by two self-enforcing
- struggle to prioritize short-term versus
ly evolving demands and expecta-
tions that go hand-in-hand with
the technological developments driving
them. Companies, no matter the size or
industry, need to innovate in order to
remain relevant.
on how to foster innovation. Some focus
on venture investment and mergers and
acquisitions, others team up with exter-
90
the next idea already exists within the
company and the people working there.
For a company to drive successful
internal innovation and spark ideas,
some things need to be in place. The
employees need to feel innovation can
happen naturally. They require room
challenge the existing ways of doing
things, and need patient leaders with a
willingness to embrace change. The gre-
at thing with ideas is that they are cheap
to come by, but worth little unless you
long-term initiatives and close-to-core
versus the next-generation business.
This can lead to long-term value ide-
as or far-from-core business not get-
ting the necessary focus and resources.
The company needs to be strategic in
how it allocates its investments, other-
wise short-term investments tend to be
over-prioritized, which can lead to long-
term stagnation. Also, the further from
the existing core business the idea is,
and to avoid being consumed by the core
initiatives.
Experimentation, collaboration, fai-
lures and learnings also come with big
responsibilities, requiring a clear stra-
mitigate risk and reduce ambiguity, you
need to determine a few ground rules:
how will we work, and what do we want
to achieve?
H
ere are some suggestions on what
you and your team can do to get
started with innovation, but also
on what to be aware of.
Be curious and collaborate. New
perspectives, knowledge, and insights
are foundations for innovation. Meet and
interact with people you know. Strike up
a conversation with people you don’t.
problems. Be transparent and share your
thoughts and ideas with others. Keep an
open mind. Accept input and listen to
questions. Read books, newsletters, and
ups to broaden your view and expand
your knowledge base. But remain disci-
plined and put some constraints on your-
self. Otherwise, you might end up never
getting started because there's always
someone new you could meet or a report
you could read.
Interact with your customers. If you
have an idea of who you are targeting
with your innovation, talk to people in
that group. Don’t just ask them what
they want, that will usually end up with
them requesting new features and
design. Dig deeper to understand their
everyday pains. Observe them. Figure
out how they behave when they use
some hypotheses beforehand but don’t
force your truths on them. Have an open
mind and let them lead the conversa-
tion. Be aware that your world view
might limit your openness. Refrain from
being judgemental.
Don’t be afraid of failure and resistan-
ce. Innovation is hard work, and the fear
of failure mindset is a creativity killer.
- ovation and be clear about whether an
your role and try to see your initiative
through the skeptics' lens and use their
input as fuel to answer their questions.
It’s important to also remain humble
and know when to stop, kill your pro-
ject, and fail productively. A producti-
ve failure brings valuable insights and
knowledge to your organization relative
to the cost.
Innovation is a habit which you need
to practice in order to improve. As a
company, you have to build a culture of
curiosity in order to drive internal inn-
idea has to bring value in the short- or
long-term. As an employee, knowledge
comes with new ways of thinking, and
so does interacting and listening to your
customers' needs. Neither organiza-
tions nor employees should be afraid of
failure or trying things out, as long as it
is done in a disciplined way that celebra-
tes learnings. The world around you will
keep on changing – it is up to you and
your organization to establish a founda-
tion to enable you to change with it.
91
A NEW LOOK
TO BRING OUR
STORY OUT
innovative entrepreneurs and standing up for
democracy and free speech. Now we have a new
modern look to help us tell our story.

Ann role as a more visible actor in society –

Axelsson But it all started with a challenge tur-

ned into an opportunity. When Christian
Senior Project Manager Strategic
Schibsted lost an important customer
Communications and Editor of Future -

Years in Shibsted: 21

S
My dream job as a child: Veterinarian
chibsted’s story began in the
-
ter. Today we are an interna-
tional family of leading media
brands, sustainable mar-
ketplaces and smart digital
services with more than 40
each month. Now it’s time to take on a
leading Norwegian newspaper. When
he stepped into the news business,
Christian Schibsted made a decision
employees.
Dagbladet in Sweden are now part of the
Schibsted family, as are the marketpla-
ces Finn in Norway, Blocket in Sweden
and Tori in Finland. Not to mention a
On the evening of September 10 2019

Photo: Magnus Sandberg

range of digital consumer brands focu-
sing on empowering consumers and
making people’s everyday life easier.
All of these brands within media,
marketplaces and digital services have
always been the heroes in the Schibsted
are the ones providing products and
services which the end users use and
relate to. But at the same time, things
are changing. Today social network
giants are new tough competitors and
the need to cooperate and have a strong
common foundation within a compa-
ny like Schibsted is crucial – and a gre-
at opportunity. We also want to be clear
about what Schibsted stands for and
carry on the heritage from Christian
Schibsted. That’s why we will make the
Schibsted brand both internally and
externally even stronger, so that it will
become more visible.
A new logotype that is a wordmark – the
full company name – is of course a cen-
consists of a new symbol, new brand
colors, new fonts and more. All tools to
get the Schibsted story out.
A story which in many ways is shaped
by our history's beginnings. Schibsted is
- almost four million users
ding new opportunities. Not least when
news went online, and today when new
competitors are playing by new rules.
Curiousity and innovation have always
been keys to success, as has the ambi-
tion to understand people's needs and
develop ideas and products with the
94
help of new technology. And not least
– in Schibsted we are always asking our-
selves how we can contribute to a sus-
tainable and democratic future.
J
ust like Christian Schibsted did
when he moved into the news-
paper business. This was also
a statement – standing up for
democracy and freedom of
speech.
building in Akersgata 51 in central Oslo
Just across the street, in number 55,
have their newsrooms today. VG has
been a member of the Schibsted fami-
ly since 1966 and is today the largest
paper in Norway with 2.4 million daily
readers. Its story is a drama in itself –
founded by war heroes in the summer of
1945, it’s the paper that united Norway.
In Stockholm Christian Schibsted
Hierta. He was also an entrepreneur,
- launched in year 2000.
se to publish the paper several times
when the king tried to shut it down.
paper in Sweden – reaching
every day – and a digital
-
det.se already in 1994.
It took a while befo-
re the legacies of the two
entrepreneurs, Schibsted
and Hierta, came together, but
Today the newsroom is located in the
Schibsted building in central Stockholm,
together with Svenska Dagbladet,
Swedish papers joined, the family had
already grown through a collaboration
with the Norwegian regional papers
and Fædrelandsvennen (the latter was
sold in September 2019).
The Stockholm building also conta-
ins the next chapters of the Schibsted
story: the marketplace Blocket and a
range of digital startup companies. The
marketplace era started with the ambi-
tion to rethink media business. When
Schibsted's rivals also began launching
Christian
Schibsted lived company was founded – the Norwegian
marketplace Finn.
in the advertising organizations, since
we were competing with our own
newspapers. But the manage-
ment knew something had to
who led the Finn-project,
Today every Norwegian
spends 21 hours at the site
every year, on average. To
win the Swedish classi-
bought Blocket in 2003,
– and then the export
began.
Blocket code on DVDs and

Martin Frey, former CEO of Blocket, was
there when the international export of
Schibsted marketplaces started. In a
small room in the back of the newsroom
of 20 minutes in Paris (which Schibsted
then owned), Martin, a few colleagues
from Blocket and a French team set up
what was to become a French natio-
launched in 2006. France, and a similar
site in Spain, was only the beginning.
Marketplace clones in Europe, Asia and
South America soon followed, at its
peak Schibsted owned marketplaces in
more than 20 countries.
Today the Nordic marketplaces
Finn, Blocket and Tori are still part of
Schibsted, while the other marketpla-
- also has a team that is rethin-
tional marketplace company Adevinta.
The split was carried out to make the
- pendent products to complement and
nies, but there is still a strong connec-
tion – Schibsted is the majority owner
The core of the S in our new logotype contains the design
of Adevinta.
people and brands come together within Schibsted.
There’s also another story star-
ting with Blocket – the lookout for inn-
ovative digital services and startups.
Schibsted Growth invests in and sup-
ports innovative companies that
address challenges we have in our day-
to-day lives. The Growth team hel-
ps founders and teams establish their
products and scale their businesses,
and the portfolio includes companies
Deal, Hypoteket and Ahum, all together
SCHIBSTED STORY | BIZ
-
gest, growing fast, with operations in
Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland,
Austria and Poland. The service compa-
banks to give the customers the best
alternative.
We still control the company but have
chosen Schibsted as our investor to get
Carl-Johan Nordquist, one of the foun-
competitive mortgages.
S
chibsted Growth is part of a divi-
sion called Schibsted Next, which
king media. They experiment,
analyze and develop new inde-
strengthen Schibsted’s core media
business.
So, the heritage from Christian
Schibsted is very much alive. In
Schibsted we are entrepreneurs with
the wish to empower people in their
daily lives, to support them to
make sustainable choices – and
to always deliver trustworthy
news, a foundation for our
democratic society.
CREDITS
EDITOR
Ann Axelsson
ann.axelsson@schibsted.com

PHOTO EDITOR

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David Stillberg

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The Future Report team in Stockholm: Emma-
Brigid McCauley
www.schibsted.com

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96
 THE SCHIBSTED FAMILY

TM

Brands that Schibsted owns or

has invested in, as of November 2019