✦ Iceland · 1960 – Present ✦
Jón
Ólafsson
Record King · TV Pioneer · Global Brand Builder
"If someone has to do something impossible,
my friends recommend me."
Jón Ólafsson
✦ The Underdog's Manifesto ✦
He was told he couldn't.
He did it anyway.
Born with nothing but ambition in post-war Reykjavik, Jón Ólafsson became the man who gave Iceland its music, its independent voice on radio, its first private television channel, its largest newspaper empire — and then took Icelandic water to the world stage alongside the Rolling Stones.
✦ 1975 — The Record King ✦
He gave Iceland
its soundtrack.
At 14 he was already organising concerts. By his twenties he had founded Skifan — a single record store that grew to command an extraordinary 85% of Iceland's entire music market. He partnered with Sony, Universal, Warner, and Columbia. He didn't just sell music. He decided what Iceland heard.
Sony · Universal · Warner · Columbia
✦ The Media Revolution ✦
He broke every monopoly
they threw at him.
IBC Radio
Iceland's first independent broadcaster. He broke the state monopoly on radio — financing it from abroad when every Icelandic door was shut.
Stöð 2 TV
Founded Iceland's first private television channel. He ended the state broadcaster's 50-year monopoly overnight.
Norðurljós
Merged everything into Northern Lights Communications — TV, radio, newspapers, cinemas. Iceland's largest media empire.
The Press
Owned Fréttablaðið and DV — Iceland's two most-read newspapers. He didn't just report the news. He was the news.
✦ 2016 – 2017 ✦
Touring with
The Rolling Stones
Icelandic Glacial — the company Jón co-founded after one year of "retirement" — became the official water of the Rolling Stones. First at their historic free concert in Havana, Cuba for 500,000 fans in 2016. Then across the No Filter Tour through 9 European countries in 2017.
"We are excited to partner again with our friends, The Rolling Stones."
— Jón Ólafsson, Chairman, Icelandic Glacial
The Rolling Stones · Ciudad Deportiva · Havana, Cuba · March 25, 2016
✦ 2004 — Icelandic Glacial ✦
Retirement lasted
exactly one year.
He co-founded Icelandic Glacial — the world's first CarbonNeutral® certified natural spring water, bottled from the ancient 5,000-year-old Ölfus Spring. He took on Evian, Fiji, and Perrier with nothing but an Icelandic glacier and the audacity of a man who had never once accepted the word no.
✦ The Fighter ✦
They tried to
stop him.
They failed.
State Enemy No. 1
Political opponents called him Iceland's most dangerous businessman. He wore it as a badge of honour and kept building.
UK High Court Victory
Won a landmark libel case, awarded ISK 12 million in damages. The establishment tried to silence him through the courts. They lost.
Financed from Abroad
When every Icelandic bank refused him, he secured international financing — a move that had never been done before in Iceland's history.
Jónsbók — His Biography
His life was so extraordinary that acclaimed Icelandic author Einar Kárason wrote a full biography. The book became a bestseller.
Jón Ólafsson · Reykjavik
✦ A Tribute from Oli ✦
"A legend is not made
by circumstance.
It is forged by will,
built by vision,
and proven by a lifetime
of battles won."
With admiration and love — Oli