The same year he married Hanna Gregoriussen, whom Reksten later began calling "mother", and who created a good home for her stepchildren.

He had his heart set on a career in shipping, but World War I caused difficult times in that field.

Still, Reksten eked out an existence during the following three years, writing paid letters from Germany that were published in Bergens Tidende, and thus finishing his studies, returning to Norway in 1924.

At that time the family resided in a villa outside of Bergen, with space also for Bjørg Elisabeth's father, while a separate building housed the shipping firm.

Reksten showed a remarkable capacity for investments; by the time of World War II the widower had six ships in operation.

In the morning of 9 April 1940 he returned there, dressed in civilian clothes, got past the German guards there and smuggled the Norwegian commander out, along with important, secret papers.

Gradually fearing for his life, but also because he wanted to continue his work within shipping, he chose to leave his five children behind while he himself fled to England.

Instead he was employed at the Nortraship office in Montreal, negotiating with American authorities about renewals of the Norwegian fleet, repairs and indemnity.

Crossing the Atlantic Ocean a number of times during World War II, Reksten was well aware of the pressure faced by the Norwegian sailors.

Three of his four ships in Allied traffic were sunk during World War II, and in August 1943 he applied for indemnity paid in advance.

After the war he kept expanding his business, and in 1974 the company had ships carrying 2 million tonnes deadweight (DWT).

Reksten's business principle was simple: He refused long-term contracts, presuming that at intervals, political crises would cause an increase in freight rates.

Twelve of his supertankers were now hired out to BP Shipping under a contract providing Reksten with a net profit of 500 million kroner.

The later "Reksten-case" originated in this giant sum, which was illegally transferred from Norway and hidden in secret "mailbox companies" abroad.

To him, the profit was his, and his alone, and privately he had also ventilated the opinion that the tax policy of the Norwegian Labour party made it necessary to remove funds from Norway.

Due to this action however, the Reksten empire had few funds to rely on when the freight rates dropped dramatically from 1971 onwards.

This firm was worried to such a degree that it was suggested to declare Reksten bankrupt; but in the winter of 1972/73, freight rates went up again, helped by an increase in the import to USA, as well as fear of rising oil prices.

Rather a triumph for Reksten, Næss being the one who had him removed from Nortraship for irregularities back during World War II.

The purchase however was paid for by the profit Reksten had illegally removed from Norway, resulting in him being forced to deny that he was the actual owner.

The press celebrated him as one of the world's most successful investors; but in most of Norwegian economic life he and his methods were generally disliked.

The main problem was that many other tank magnates had begun to share his optimism, expecting a further increase in freight rates.

In 2014 Bergens Tidende said that "When the Dagsrevyen reporter published a book about the Reksten Case, then 'Bergen [going] to war against Erling Borgen', wrote VG on the front page November 7, 1981".

Naturally, there was little activity after his bankruptcy; but into the 1990s things started improving,[13] and today Rekstensamlingene (the Reksten collections) are part of Bergen's cultural scene.

On June 3, 2022 the Norwegian Newspaper AftenPosten ran a long feature article in their weekend magazine, "A-Magasinet" based on three days' worth of interviews with Astrid and Sigurd's youngest child, Richard.

It is the full story of Hoyer's discovery that his parents had stolen the trust fund left to him and his siblings by Hilmar Reksten.

This book details the government bailout of Reksten, his criminal prosecution, and the creditors’ global 20-year hunt for his hidden billion-dollar fortune.

[16] A TV documentary on Reksten's life is being produced (2012), based on material from the files of photographer Lene Løtvedt.