Hudd's CEO replaced after only four months

Anders Frogner was registered as CEO of the Norwegian social media app Hudd on 27 April this year. Already by 2 September, founder Eigil Arff Tarjem had quietly been reinstated as CEO of the technology company.

September 6, 2026

SOURCES | SOCIETY

Hudd raised NOK 20 million through crowdfunding in 2025, illustration by AI

Registered change of CEO

Anders Frogner was registered in the Register of Business Enterprises (Foretaksregisteret) as CEO of Hudd AS on 27 April 2026. Frogner's term lasted just four months and six days before Eigil Arff Tarjem took over again on 2 September 2026.

A change of CEO is subject to mandatory registration under the Business Enterprise Registration Act (foretaksregisterloven) and is announced publicly by the Register. Beyond that announcement, the change has not been mentioned by the company, either on its website or in its own application. Frogner's appointment was covered in the press, but this time it has been quiet.

Eigil Arff Tarjem founded the company on 21 March 2024. He was CEO from the outset. The Hudd application was launched in November 2024.

Company under pressure

Two other incidents hit the company later this week, relating to privacy and marketing. Samfunn og Politikk revealed on Thursday that the company had sent problematic third-party marketing to its users without the consent required by data protection law, read more.

Then, on Friday, S&P revealed that member lists in closed groups were publicly accessible in the Hudd application, showing names and postal town. This affected vulnerable and at-risk groups. The matter was therefore reported to the Norwegian Data Protection Authority (Datatilsynet) by S&P, read more.

Growth in new users of the Hudd app has slowed, and the launches in Denmark and Sweden have contributed little in that respect. As of today, Hudd has fallen to 46th place in Norway in the social media category on the App Store; in Denmark and Sweden it does not have enough downloads to appear on the top 200 list.

At the same time, the app is marked by numerous technical faults and low user activity, read more.

A "crazy" valuation of the company

The company did not appoint an auditor until this summer, but carried out a share issue in August last year via Folkeinvest (a Norwegian crowdfunding platform). The crowdfunding raised NOK 20 million for the company from 937 investors, at NOK 0.80 per share with a minimum investment of NOK 4,800.

The valuation of Hudd on which the share issue was based was NOK 122 million, set by the company itself.

The financial daily Finansavisen covered the valuation three days before the issue was fully subscribed on 27 August. The paper had consulted financial analysts who described the valuation as "spinnvill" — crazy. This was on the basis that Hudd at that point was earning only NOK 50,000 a month, that is NOK 600,000 a year. It means the company was priced at around 200 times its earnings. Norwegian technology companies are usually priced at around five times.

Tarjem replied to Finansavisen that analysts are not who he is appealing to: "It is not fundamentals-driven analysts I am courting."