[1] He worked for AGA Paulista in São Paulo, Brazil from 1933 to 1935 before graduating from the Stockholm School of Economics in 1937.
Thunholm was CEO of the Federation of Swedish Industries (Sveriges Industriförbund) from 1955 to 1957 and of Skandinaviska Banken from 1957 to 1971.
He came under fire in the 1980s over revelations about the Bofors bribes, because he, as chairman of the Nobel Industries ought to have been transparent, but felt that this was a mass media inflated business, in which India put the blame on Sweden.
[8] During the 1980s, Thunholm was financier of the doctor Alf Enerström's noted newspaper campaign against Prime Minister Olof Palme.
[8] When Thunholm resigned as chairman of SEB at age 70 (where he replaced Marcus Wallenberg) he had time to spare for his own writing.