"Ağlayan Kurt ": Norveç Devlet Varlık Fonu CEO'su Rekor Kârın Ardından Korkunç Uyarıda Bulundu

‘Crying Wolf’: Norway’s Sovereign Wealth Fund CEO Issues Dire Warning After Record Profit

Tue, August 18, 2026 at 1:06 AM GMT+3 3 min read

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The world's largest sovereign wealth fund, Norway's $2.3 trillion Oil Fund, reported last week a record $184.3 billion profit in the first half of 2026, anchored by technology stocks at the heart of the AI boom. CEO Nicolai Tangen celebrated by warning the public that the Fund could one day be worth nothing, invoking nuclear war, biological weapons attacks and a catastrophic stock market collapse. That'll help with the stereotypes of Scandinavians as cold and gloomy.

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Wheel of Fjord-tune

The Government Pension Fund Global, as it's formally known, reinvests surplus revenue from Norway's oil and gas sector into global equities, bonds and real estate. It's the world's largest single investor, and Tangen is one of the Fund's most successful leaders, having overseen a doubling in value since he took over in late 2020.

But in an interview with tabloid newspaper Verdens Gang last week, he went, well, full tabloid. The dangers of nuclear war or biological terrorism are increasing because of AI, he declared, and could make the Fund "pretty worthless." While he said that's "not very likely," he pointed out that this century has so far experienced "V-shaped crises" like the Great Recession and COVID, with markets rebounding afterward. He's worried about a different letter configuration:

• "What we fear is that we will get an L-shaped crisis, where it does not turn around, but lasts for years," he told VG. A day later, Tangen said the Fund has developed models showing it could plummet 40% to 50% because of an AI stocks crash, debt crises or extreme climate and food shocks.

• Tangen told the Norwegian people to be prepared for a steep drop, comparing the technological breakthroughs and stock speculation in the lead-up to the 1929 crash to today's AI boom.

'Werewolf' Warning: Norway is allowed to use a maximum of 3% of the Fund annually, and it currently provides about a quarter of the national budget. Roar Valderhaug, a columnist for business newspaper E24, praised Tangen for warning the public not to count on that 3% always being worth the $63 billion it is today. But, he added, Fund leaders have a record of crying wolf, and invoking nuclear destruction, biological terror and bankruptcy was melodramatic. "The wolf warning was upgraded to werewolf," he wrote. Most market experts don't expect a recession, let alone a depression, any time soon. JPMorgan puts the probability of a downturn at 20%. "The Oil Fund will also probably be lost in the event of a large asteroid impact or a zombie apocalypse," joked Valderhaug.

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