A-HA-COMEBACK CAN PROVIDE MILLIONS OF MONEY By Ole Eikeland (Translation by Jakob Sekse).

Morten Harket has a fortune of about 10 million kroner [about 1,3 million dollars] after 15 years as a famous international artist. If a-ha`s comeback-CD becomes a million-hit, his fortune will be doubled for every million sold CD`s. But not everything he has put his hands into has been turned into hard cash in the Harket-cash balance.

The a-ha adventure which began in the fall of 1985 has turned the trio Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, Magne Furuholmen and Morten Harket into some very rich singing-birds. The richest of the three is Paul Waaktaar-Savoy , who was responsible for most of the songwriting, while Magne Furuhomen, better known as ®Mags¯, is in the second place. The front man and the dream of all girls, Morten Harket, has earned the least because he almost didn`t write any of the songs. But that doesn`t mean that Harket is suffering in any way. He has got two apartments in the most luxurious part of Oslo, one in Thomas Heftyesgate [gate = street] and one in Oscarsgate, as well as an apartment at Gr�nerlokka, also in Oslo. All together, this is worth around 8 million kroner. Harket has also been doing good in the stock market. He owns shares of a total amount of between 1 and 2 million kroner. Harket has the most of his shares in the computer-company FAST. When FAST was extracted out of Opticom, he was stuck with 3.400 FAST-shares. He sold the shares, however, for 100 kroner per share, when a conflict arose between TONO and FAST. When FAST was extracted from Opticom in the spring of 1998, the share had an estimated value of 4 kroner. FAST has its own search engine for music on the internet. In addition to the apartments and the shares, Harket also owns a range of cars, and among those a lavish Mercedes. According to sources, Harket is almost out of debt. His total fortune will then be close to 10 million kroner.

ENORMOUS MONEY-POTENTIAL Even though Harket as of today has the smallest fortune of the three, he has the biggest money-potential. In the media, Harket has been presented as a philosophic person, as far away from the economic life as you can come. That`s not how it really is.

But it should also be said that 10 years ago, Harket was involved in an unsuccessfull restaurant-project at Aker Brygge [®Figaro`s¯], and recently the company Adventure Cruise, where Harket owned 25%, went bankrupt.

In the last years, however, Harket has been actively developing Morten Harket as a business. One of his childhood friends is Erik Henriksen. The Monaco-based businessman has through a long life within shipping and offshore made a fortune of around 500 million kroner [around 64 million dollars]. From what ®Okonomisk Rapport¯ knows, he is said to have been an important support for Harket in the last years. As his sparring partner, Harket uses the former managing director of Kv‘rner [big Norwegian industrial company] and now partner in the media-consulting company Monsen & Co, Atle Kigen. ®I am in the board together with Morten in his two companies Compass Point and Swerve¯ Kigen tells ®Okonomisk Rapport¯. - What are those companies doing? ®Swerve is doing project development to realize the potential which is in Morten Harket as a brand name and as an artist¯ the adviser says. Morten Harket has big plans with Swerve. He wish to obtain more control over the chain of money. Today, an artist will be left with only 15% of the price of a CD in the record-store. That is the same as 12 kroner per CD. Swerve has three main sources of income. One is publishing, which incorporates the copyright of the songs, among other things. The second is the artist Morten Harket himself, and the last thing is using the name Morten Harket as a brand name.

TALKSHOW HOST Because Morten Harket *is* very popular. Different offers have been streaming in from at home and abroad during the last years. Questions about taking part in movies, TV-series and musicals have been coming from international interests. He shall also have been offered to have his own talkshow. From Norwegian quarters, he has been getting many offers about using his talents as an industrial designer. ®Morten Harket is multitalented. He has designed mahogany boats, knives, and he has written the most beauthiful lyrics. If he can manage to take advantage of his talents, he will be a very rich man¯ sources say.

Currently, he is into three different projects. For one thing, he has his own solo-career, where he already has over 50 demo-songs ready. Secondly, there is a so-called special project, where he, together with some foreign producers, has made a techno-inspired album which he is considering to release on the internet.

NEW A-HA-MILLIONS And last but not least, is he currently doing the final adjustments on a-ha`s comeback-CD. And it is a-ha that he has decided to go for 100% in the near future. ®They chose to postpone the album from this fall to March next year because they wanted more time to arrange the songs. They have so many great songs to choose between, that they didn`t want to rush the release¯ a source says. ®And all three are now really certain that this album will do great. By postponing the album, Warner`s promotion-department will also have more time to prepare the release. If the a-ha guys can find back to the sound of their debut-album ®Hunting high and low¯, which is the best-selling a-ha album so far, with over 5 million copies sold, the money will be flowing once again. >From what ®Okonomisk Rapport¯ knows, a.ha have managed to negotiate a contract which is a bit better than an average contract. It`s possible that the Norwegian super-trio will get between 15 and 20 kroner per sold CD. Every million sold CD`s will then give an income of between 15 and 20 million kroner to the guys. In addition, one can take for granted that the guys will make just as much money on merchandising, singles, TONO and various performances. Then you`re talking about a total income of between 30 and 40 million kroner.

In other words; if Warner are successfull with this release, Harket and ®Mags¯ can once again buy Mercedes 500`s. And who knows, maybe leather wrist-bands will again be popular?