Opera Software boss' star keeps rising
 Jon S von Tetzchner, the Icelandic-reared chief executive of Oslo-based Opera Software, finds himself in good company these days. Now he's been named one of 25 "Stars of Europe" by a leading business magazine, right up there with the CEOs at BMW and Air France.
Business Week magazine likens Von Tetzchner to the rare entrepreneur who manages to tackle Microsoft Corp head-on "and live to tell the tale." Von Tetzchner, the magazine claims, "is that rare survivor."
His company, launched with business partner Geir Ivarsoy in 1995, even managed to mount a successful stock offering earlier this year. Opera Software now boasts millions of users attracted by its browser that allows quick and easy Internet use.
Opera also has been an innovator, Business Week notes, offering its browser free of charge if users accept ads on the screen, or for USD 39 in an ad-free version. Von Tetzchner also spotted opportunities for browsers in mobile phones and other non-PCs, and he dreams of the day when browsers will be built into most household appliances.
The Business Week recognition is the latest for the 36-year-old entrepreneur, who's been the subject of profiles in national newspapers in Norway of late. Success doesn't seem to have gone to his head, though. As one paper noted, he still drives a fairly old car and lives in a modest neighborhood in Oslo with his wife and children.
Via Aftenposten News in English.
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