Carl-Henric Svanberg compares BP's oil spill disaster with the crisis after the dot-com bubble burst. Watch the film.

• BP’s chairman slammed for 'radio silence'

Swedish businessman Carl-Henric Svanberg, former chief executive of Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson who was appointed as the BP group's new chairman from 2010, has been heavily criticized in international media for his silence on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that is wreaking havoc on the environment.

But in a panel discussion, recorded at Zeitgeist Europe 2010, he now admits massive expected after-effects. BP’s oil catastrophe will change the oil industry in the same way that Three Mile Island – the site of the worst civilian nuclear accident in United States history in 1979 – changed the rules for the entire nuclear industry.

“It is obviously a big disaster that we are witnessing. We will learn a lot from this and learn to do things differently", he said.

Svanberg also compares the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig last month with the crisis at Ericsson after the dot-com bubble burst.

“When I came to Ericsson, we were in the middle of a crisis where we ended up shrinking the company from 110,000 to 45,000 people. This was the bubble burst”, he said. “I felt going into [the oil] industry should be a smooth ride”.

 

Last Updated (Friday, 21 May 2010 10:54)

 

Comments 

 
#2 2010-05-21 20:57
CH Svanberg is a disgrace to Ericsson and to Sweden in general.
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#1 2010-05-21 20:46
Wy doesn't the shareholders ask Carl Henrik to resign for his insensitive and self indulgent comments. What has the internet bubble got to do with the environmental disaster that is happening in the Gulf. He is clearly out of his depth and has no understanding other than for his own bottom line. Go back to Sweden and retire.
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