Norway's tech and media giants grow, yet the typical company earns just 5.1%
SSB says revenue in information and communication rose 10.2% in 2024, but the accounts of 2,930 companies for 2025 show a typical operating margin of 5.1% and a loss at 42.5% of them. The industry is led by a few very large firms and a thin layer of extremely profitable ones, and most of its jobs sit in a handful of cities, with Oslo far ahead.
Morning Analytics. The text is AI-assisted and checked: every figure is checked automatically against the database before publication. How it is calculated
The industry in figures
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Ranked companies, fiscal year 2025 | 2,930 |
| Total revenue, ranked companies 2025 | 395,865 MNOK |
| Median operating margin 2025 | 5.1% |
| Median equity ratio 2025 | 33.3% |
| Share with a loss 2025 | 42.5% |
| Share with negative equity 2025 | 19.6% |
| Enterprises in the industry (SSB) 2024 | 23,538 (+3.5% from 2023) |
| Employed in the industry (SSB) 2024 | 113,952 (+0.6% from 2023) |
| Revenue in the industry (SSB) 2024 | 424,679 mill. kr (+10.2% from 2023) |
| Bankruptcies 2025K4–2026K3 (change from the four quarters before) | 156 (−13.8%) |
| Share employed in foreign-controlled enterprises 2024 | 40.1% |
| Activity, twelve months to 2026M08 | +0.9% |
| Share of jobs in the ten largest municipalities 2025 | 54.1% |
| Share of the employed living in the ten largest municipalities 2025 | 63.2% |
| Public contracts won in the last twelve months | 580 · 51,579 MNOK |
The industry in SSB's figures
Start with SSB's wide-angle picture. In 2024 the industry had 23,538 enterprises, up 3.5% from 2023, and 113,952 employed, up just 0.6% (SSB 12910). Revenue rose 10.2% to 424,679 mill. kr. More companies and far more revenue, but hardly more jobs.
The industry is also strongly international. SSB 08085 shows that 40.1% of those employed in it worked in foreign-controlled enterprises in 2024. A large part of the sector therefore answers to owners abroad, which matters when one reads local accounts.
Distress has eased. SSB 10790 counts 156 bankruptcies from the fourth quarter of 2025 to the third quarter of 2026, 13.8% fewer than in the four quarters before. SSB's turnover index for the industry rose 4.6% in 2025, while activity in the twelve months to August 2026 was up 0.9% (SSB 13863). The pace has slowed, though the facts do not say why.
This picture is a useful backdrop to the company accounts that follow, but the two do not measure the same thing. SSB's figures cover the whole industry in 2024. The Brønnøysundregistrene accounts cover 2,930 ranked companies for fiscal year 2025, with total revenue of 395,865 MNOK.
Source: SSB 12910, 10790, 08085.
The largest companies by revenue
The top of the revenue list is led by a company many Norwegians know only through their screens. Microsoft Norge AS reported 30,292 MNOK in 2025, ahead of Telenor Norge AS at 27,153 MNOK (Brønnøysundregistrene). Telia Norge AS followed with 14,137 MNOK.
Further down, the list shows how mixed the industry is. Lyse Tele AS has 9,421 MNOK, and the broadcasters Norsk rikskringkasting AS and TV 2 AS have 6,869 MNOK and 6,414 MNOK. Telecoms, software, media and social platforms sit in one statistical box: Sopra Steria AS has 5,983 MNOK and TikTok Norway AS 4,361 MNOK.
The gap to the typical company is wide. Total revenue for the 2,930 ranked companies is 395,865 MNOK, and the two largest alone account for a conspicuous share of that. The ranking says what the companies booked in Norway, not how much value was created, and group structures can affect what a single Norwegian entity reports.
Source: Brønnøysundregistrene, 2025. 2,932 compared.
Most profitable among the large (operating margin)
Here the median is the key figure. Among all ranked companies the median operating margin in 2025 was 5.1%, and the median equity ratio 33.3% (Brønnøysundregistrene). In plain terms, for every 100 kroner of revenue the middle company keeps about five kroner from operations before financing.
The weaker end is large. 42.5% of the companies had a loss in 2025, and 19.6% had negative equity, meaning that their debts exceed their assets on paper. That is not a verdict on each firm: new companies and companies in a build-up phase often show losses.
Restricting the view to the 847 companies with at least 50 MNOK in revenue lifts the median margin only to 6.2%. Size alone does not guarantee comfortable profits.
At the top, the figures look like another industry. Novorender AS reports 78.0% and Bergen Fiber AS 77.5%, followed by Proxima Code AS at 73.6% and Everway AS at 73.1%. Telia Towers Norway AS, at 62.2%, belongs to the same group of asset-heavy or highly specialised companies. Margins like these often reflect narrow business models or internal group pricing, and the data do not show which applies here.
Source: Brønnøysundregistrene, 2025. 847 compared.
Fastest growth among the large (revenue growth)
Growth is more uneven than size. Among the 847 larger companies the median revenue growth was 7.2% in 2025 (Brønnøysundregistrene), a pace broadly in line with the industry's 10.2% in SSB's 2024 figures, though the years and the delimitations differ.
The fastest growers stand far above that. Homekey AS leads with 40.8 on the same measure, followed by Novorender AS at 26.7 and Six Robotics AS at 16.1. Novorender appears on both lists, high margin and fast growth, which is rare.
Growth from a small base is easy to inflate, and one large contract or a restructuring can lift a single year. The list below the top shows how quickly the field thins: Vaare AS reaches 14.5 and Nscale Drift AS 11.0, while Proxima Code AS, also high on the margin list, has 4.6.
Source: Brønnøysundregistrene, 2025. 847 compared.
Where the jobs are (employed by workplace)
The jobs are concentrated. In 2025 the sector counted 359,588 employees across 357 municipalities by workplace (SSB 13470), yet the ten largest municipalities hold 54.1% of them.
Oslo alone has 95,566, or 26.6%. Bergen follows with 21,833 and Trondheim with 17,230. Bærum, a municipality next to the capital, has 15,810, more than Stavanger's 11,363.
The commuter belt around Oslo stands out further down: Ullensaker has 7,075, Asker 5,936 and Drammen 6,097. Kristiansand has 7,739 and Tromsø 5,775, which makes Tromsø the northernmost entry among the ten largest. The table delimits the sector on its own terms, so it cannot be set directly against the 113,952 in SSB 12910.
Source: 13470, 2025. 357 compared.
Where the workers live (employed by residence)
Counting by residence changes the map. SSB 08536 places 116,162 employed residents in the sector in 2025, and counts commuters and offshore workers where they live rather than where they work. Only industries where these codes hold at least 80% of the jobs are included.
Oslo has 38,889 resident workers, 33.5% of the total, against 55,386 jobs located there in this table. Bærum shows the same pattern more sharply: 5,864 residents against 9,411 jobs. A mismatch like this is consistent with daily commuting into the two municipalities.
Bergen and Trondheim are closer to balance, with 6,284 residents against 7,002 jobs and 6,051 residents against 6,756 jobs. Stavanger has 3,837 residents and 5,265 jobs. Across the country the ten largest municipalities hold 63.2% of employed residents by this count, a larger share than the 54.1% of jobs by workplace in the other table, although the two tables use different delimitations.
Asker, Lillestrøm and Nordre Follo, all in the Oslo region, enter the top ten by residence with 3,576, 2,561 and 2,331 workers. That fits the picture of an industry whose workforce lives around the capital.
Source: 08536, 2025. 333 compared.
Public contracts in the last twelve months
The public sector is a sizeable customer. In the last twelve months Doffin (DFØ) recorded 580 contracts won by 279 companies, with a total value of 51,579 MNOK.
Wins are spread thinly at the top. Geodata AS, SoftwareOne AS and Telenor Norge AS each won 15 contracts. The largest company by revenue in telecoms thus competes on the same footing, by count, as two much smaller specialists.
The buyers are municipal, state and health bodies. Oslo kommune v/ Utdanningsetaten placed 46 contracts, Digitaliseringsdirektoratet 26 and Norsk Helsenett SF 23. Contract counts do not equal money: the data given here do not link individual buyers to values.
Source: Doffin (DFØ).
The outlook: macro and drivers
Companies' own expectations, such as investment estimates and the business tendency survey, would normally belong here. The facts at hand contain none, so this article does not report any, and would in any case treat them as expectations, not outcomes.
What the facts do contain is SSB's macro forecast, published on 15 September 2026 (SSB 12880). It expects mainland GDP to grow 1.4% in 2026 and 2.1% in 2027, after 1.7% in 2025. Business investment is forecast to grow 1.8% in 2026 and 2.8% in 2027, against 2.7% in 2025. These are forecasts, not outcomes.
The cost side looks calmer. Annual wages are forecast to rise 4.3% in 2026, 3.7% in 2027 and 3.4% in 2028, and the consumer price index 3.2%, 2.5% and 2.2%. The money market rate is forecast at 4.5% in 2026 and 4.6% in 2027, before 4.0% in 2028 (SSB 12880).
The drivers from 2025 point in mixed directions. The turnover index in the industry rose 4.6%, and the consumer price index 3.0% (SSB 13863, SSB 14710). The Norges Bank policy rate changed by −20.2% in the year and USD/NOK by −3.3%. A weaker dollar matters for companies that buy software and cloud services in dollars, but the facts do not show how this affected any company.
SSB's forecasts
Statistics Norway's economic forecasts (table 12880), published 15 September 2026. Marked years are forecasts.
| 2024 | 2025 | 2026forecast | 2027forecast | 2028forecast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GDP mainland Norway | 0.6 % | 1.7 % | 1.4 % | 2.1 % | 1.5 % |
| Unemployment rate (LFS, level) | 4.0 % | 4.5 % | 4.6 % | 4.4 % | 4.3 % |
| Consumer price index | 3.1 % | 3.1 % | 3.2 % | 2.5 % | 2.2 % |
| Money market rate (level) | 4.7 % | 4.4 % | 4.5 % | 4.6 % | 4.0 % |
| Business investment | 0.7 % | 2.7 % | 1.8 % | 2.8 % | 2.1 % |
| Annual wages | 5.6 % | 4.9 % | 4.3 % | 3.7 % | 3.4 % |
SSB's forecast for the current and coming years. Per cent change from the year before, level where stated. table 12880, CC BY 4.0.
Source: SSB 12880, Norges Bank.
What the figures do not say
The figures describe accounts and registers, not the reasons behind them. They do not show why margins differ so widely, how far one-off items or group structures shape single companies, or what the companies themselves expect, since the facts here hold no investment estimates or survey answers. SSB's macro figures for 2026 to 2028 are forecasts, and the SSB industry figures (2024) and the company accounts (2025) cover different years and delimitations.