Stieg Larsson Net Worth

What Was Stieg Larsson's Net Worth?

Stieg Larsson was a Swedish journalist and writer who had a net worth of $30 million at the time of his death in 2004. That's the same as around $45 million in today's dollars. As detailed later in this article, Larsson did not have a will at the time of his death, which sparked a bitter feud between his partner of 32 years and his surviving father and brother, who ultimately inherited his assets. In the years following his death, thanks to the release of his books and movies based on them, Larsson's estate has earned tens of millions of dollars per year.

Stieg Larsson was the author of the popular "Millennium trilogy," which includes the novels "Män som hatar kvinnor" ("The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"), "Flickan som lekte med elden" ("The Girl Who Played with Fire"), and "Luftslottet som sprängdes" ("The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest"). All three novels were published after Larsson's death and were adapted into a successful Swedish film series. In 2011, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" was adapted into an American film directed by David Fincher and starring Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig. The film grossed $239.3 million at the box office and earned five Academy Award nominations. In July 2010, Larsson became the first author to sell 1 million eBooks on Amazon. The "Millennium trilogy" has been published in more than 50 countries and has sold over 70 million copies.

Early Life

Stieg Larsson was born Karl Stig-Erland Larsson on August 15, 1954, in Skelleftehamn, Sweden. He was the son of Vivianne Boström, who passed away in 1991, and Erland Larsson. He had a younger brother named Joakim. Stieg's father and maternal grandfather both worked in a smelting plant, and Erland eventually quit after becoming ill from arsenic poisoning.

Larsson's parents left him in Västerbotten County with his maternal grandparents when he was just one year old and moved to Stockholm to look for work. He remained there until he was nine years old. After his grandfather died, Stieg went to live with his parents and brother in Stockholm.

In 1972, Larsson graduated with a secondary diploma in social sciences. He applied to Stockholm's Joint Colleges of Journalism but did not pass the entrance exam. In 1974, he was conscripted into the Swedish Army, where he served for 16 months and trained as a mortarman.

At the age of 18, Larsson met Eva Gabrielsson at an anti-Vietnam War meeting. The two entered into a relationship that would last until his death. After publishing her memoir "Stieg and Me: Memories of My Life with Stieg Larsson" in 2011, Gabrielsson spoke in an interview with "The Guardian" about a traumatic incident that deeply affected Larsson. As a teenager, he witnessed a group of his friends commit a gang rape and felt lifelong guilt for not intervening. Gabrielsson said he did not tell her about the incident until a decade into their relationship, and that it continued to haunt him for years.

Career

Larsson's parents gave him a typewriter for his 12th birthday, and he began writing science fiction stories. In 1972, he co-edited the fanzine "Sfären" with Rune Forsgren and attended the Stockholm sci-fi convention SF•72.

Throughout the 1970s, Larsson published more than 30 fanzine issues and became deeply involved in Sweden's science fiction community. In 1971, he joined the Scandinavian SF Society, became a board member in 1978, and was named chairman in 1980. He also served as editor or co-editor of numerous sci-fi fanzines and eventually became president of Skandinavisk Förening för Science Fiction, Sweden's largest sci-fi fan club.

In his early twenties, Larsson changed the spelling of his name from "Stig" to "Stieg" to avoid confusion with another writer of the same name.

Before achieving fame as a novelist, Larsson wrote several nonfiction books focused on political extremism, including "Extremhögern" (1991), "Sverigedemokraterna: den nationella rörelsen" (2001), "Debatten om hedersmord: feminism eller rasism" (2004), and "Sverigedemokraterna från insidan" (2004).

At the time of his death, Larsson had completed three of the ten novels he had planned for the "Millennium" series. All three had been accepted for publication but were not released until after his death. "Män som hatar kvinnor" ("Men Who Hate Women") was published in Sweden in 2005 and later released internationally as "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" in 2008. It was followed by "Flickan som lekte med elden" ("The Girl Who Played with Fire") in 2006 and "Luftslottet som sprängdes" ("The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest") in 2009.

Larsson left most of a fourth novel on his computer, and it is believed that manuscripts or outlines for additional books may exist.

In 2013, Swedish publisher Norstedts hired author David Lagercrantz to continue the series, beginning with 2015's "The Girl in the Spider's Web." He later wrote additional installments in 2017 and 2019.

Personal Life

During his time as a professional photographer, Larsson became involved in far-left political activism and joined the Communist Workers' League. He also served as editor of "Fjärde internationalen," a Swedish Trotskyist journal, and wrote for the weekly newspaper "Internationalen."

In 1977, Larsson traveled to Eritrea, where he trained female fighters from the Eritrean People's Liberation Front in the use of mortars. He was forced to stop after contracting a kidney-related illness.

After returning to Sweden later that year, he took a job as a graphic designer at the news agency Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå, where he worked until 1999. His political beliefs inspired him to found the Swedish Expo Foundation, which aimed to counteract the growth of far-right extremism and white power culture. In 1995, he began editing "Expo," the foundation's magazine. During his free time, Larsson researched right-wing extremism in Sweden, which informed his early nonfiction work.

Death

On November 9, 2004, Larsson suffered a heart attack while climbing seven flights of stairs to the "Expo" office. He died at the age of 50. Reports described his lifestyle as heavily reliant on fast food and coffee-fueled work habits. He was laid to rest at Högalid Church in Stockholm.

Estate Battle

Larsson left behind an estate valued at approximately $30 million at the time of his death. In 2008, a will he had written in 1977 was discovered, in which he expressed a desire to leave his assets to the Communist Workers' League's Umeå branch. However, the will was not legally valid because it was not witnessed.

Because Swedish law does not recognize common-law marriage, Larsson's assets, including future royalties, went to his father and brother instead of to Eva Gabrielsson, his partner of more than 30 years. The couple had never legally married, in part because Swedish law required married couples to make their home addresses publicly available, which could have posed a security risk given Larsson's work exposing extremist groups.

Gabrielsson later said that Larsson's family was initially supportive, telling her, "You were his wife, it is not our inheritance, it's yours." However, she claimed their stance eventually changed. She rejected a reported $2.6 million settlement, stating that she wanted control over his literary legacy rather than a financial payout.

In 2012, Larsson's family established The Stieg Larsson Foundation, which focuses on promoting democratic values, freedom of speech, and opposition to extremism.

Awards

Larsson received numerous awards posthumously. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" won the Glass Key Award in 2005, and "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" won the same award in 2008. In 2006, "The Girl Who Played with Fire" was named Best Swedish Crime Novel.

In 2008, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" earned Larsson the ITV3 Crime Thriller Award for International Author of the Year in the UK, as well as South Africa's Exclusive Books Boeke Prize. The following year, the novel was named Crime Thriller of the Year at the Galaxy British Book Awards and received the Anthony Award for Best First Novel.

In 2010, "USA Today" named Larsson Author of the Year.

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