Hitkrant, 1983: ABBA has money troubles

Behind the scenes of the ABBA-companies, a struggle for power is going on, of which Agnetha, Benny and Björn appear to become victims. But, as it turned out, Frida has managed to sell her interests in the ABBA-business last year. By doing that, she not only escapes the financial scandal, but also the loss of about two billion.

Feverish meetings are taking place at the offices of the various ABBA-companies in Sweden these days. Too much investments in the oil-business seem to have big consequences for Agnetha, Benny and Björn, but for the many small investors, who entrusted their hard-earned money to the ABBA-group, as well. It is now certain that about two billion has been lost and that’s not a piece of cake, not even for the pop-millionaires. Several assets of the ABBA-company have been sold already or are for sale, to be able to cover the losses. But Sweden is talking about a financial scandal and obviously that’s not good advertisement for the group. To great astonishment, it turned out that Frida, who moved to England last year, doesn’t have anything to do with the ABBA-company any longer. Last year, she sold all her shares because she no longer believed in the politics of the ABBA-group. She was proven right.

The question is, whether this crisis will bring the ABBA-members closer together or, on the contrary, drive them even further apart. Rumours about the expected break-up are getting more frequent every day and there are sources that say that ABBA is about to die a dismal death. Now that the financial separation between Frida and the other group-members has become public, this seems the obvious conclusion. But then again, Agnetha has a different opinion. “Frida and I have more fun working with ABBA now,” she stated recently. “Our collaboration is more relaxed now than a few years ago. The bigger amount of freedom is definitely beneficiary to the group’s achievements. We won’t let ABBA bleed to death, we all love the group too much for that.” Agnetha is even convinced that a new ABBA-album will be released in 1984. “The fans will have to have patience for one more year. In the meantime, I hope that Frida and I will be able to keep the ABBA-audience satisfied with our solo records.”