Pop Foto, October 1980: No one can tear us apart

Do these four people look as if they are having money problems? Still, the foursome suffered a loss of millions recently. Despite that, the understanding between the band members is better than ever. “No-one can tear us apart,” is what they’re saying.

“The crisis is over,” is what manager Stig Anderson announced some time ago. And with that, he meant to say that the internal difficulties that occurred after Björn and Agnetha’s divorce had been solved. At the moment, the group is giving the impression of being tighter than ever. ABBA is up for it again. And they should, because especially in the financial area there have been some setbacks. As you probably know, to Sweden ABBA is more than just a pop-group. ABBA is also Sweden’s second export company. The foursome has invested money in several big companies. The group has interests in a bank, a record company and even a bicycle factory.

A few months ago, manager Stig Anderson came up with the (according to him wonderful) idea to invest money in oil; a product that was becoming more expensive by the day (and more valuable). But right at the moment that he spent 30 million on that oil-project on behalf of ABBA, the prices of oil dropped considerably. Oil changed from a magic word into a nightmare... the result of this was that ABBA faced a loss of millions. To make matters worse, at the same time the Swedish taxes became very active, and started to investigate all ABBA activities. Not that the foursome had failed to fill in their forms correctly, but it was examined if there was more to be taken from the golden goose. All of this had the result that in ABBA circles it is now considered to move more investments abroad. But the foursome doesn’t really have to worry, especially since they’re making one hit record after the other. But more important is that the understanding within the group has only gotten better. Time has healed all wounds. “No one can tear us apart,” is what the four are saying, “not even the Swedish taxes!” Stig Anderson is laughing all the problems away as well: “You know what we will do with all this oil, guys? Just store it for ten years, or so. Until there’s a new oil-crisis!”