Kai-Uwe Ricke

Kai-Uwe Ricke (born October 29, 1961 in Krefeld ) was CEO of Deutsche Telekom AG from November 15, 2002 to November 13, 2006 . On February 20, 2008, he was appointed to the Supervisory Board of United Internet AG. Since 2010 he has been Executive Chairman of the Board of Delta Partners, an investment and consulting company specializing in telecommunications in developing and emerging countries, with headquarters in Dubai .

Life

In 1981, after graduating from high school at Moltkeplatz in Krefeld, he began training as a banker , which was followed by studies at the EBS University of Economics and Law in Oestrich-Winkel.

Then he was assistant to the executive board at Bertelsmann AG in Gütersloh and head of the sales and marketing departments of the Bertelsmann subsidiary Scandinavian Music Club AG in Malmö , Sweden . From 1990 to June 1995 Ricke was managing director of Talkline Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH and Talkline PS Phone Service GmbH, Elmshorn and from July 1995 to December 1997 board member and spokesman for the management of Talkline GmbH.

In January 1998 Ricke was appointed to the management board of the former DeTeMobil Deutsche Telekom MobilNet GmbH and from February 2000 he took over the chairmanship of the newly founded T-Mobile International , under which the main companies of the mobile communications business of Deutsche Telekom were combined. Under Ricke, Telekom was able to maintain its position in mobile communications against its competitor " Mannesmann ". Together with the then CEO of Telekom Ron Sommer , Ricke was involved in the takeover of " Voicestream " in 2002 , which was controversial at the time because of the high price.

Telekom CEO

In May 2001, Ricke became a member of the Deutsche Telekom Board of Management. As Chief Operating Officer (COO), Ricke was most recently responsible for Deutsche Telekom's mobile and online activities. Kai-Uwe Ricke has been CEO of Deutsche Telekom since November 15, 2002 . He took over the office from Helmut Sihler , who, after Ron Sommer's resignation in the summer of 2002, led the business of Telekom as interim boss. Kai-Uwe Ricke thus succeeded his father Helmut Ricke , who headed Telekom from 1989 to 1994. In November 2006, the minority owner Blackstone (11/2006 stake: 4.5 percent) pushed for Ricke to be replaced. Initially, the chairman of the Telekom supervisory board, Klaus Zumwinkel , opposed the demands. However, when the federal government as majority shareholder (share 11/2006: 28 percent) joined Blackstone's demands, he paved the way for a successor. According to the assumptions of the business press, this should prevent the entry of a foreign manager. On November 12, 2006, Ricke resigned from his position with effect from the following day. His successor in the office of CEO of Deutsche Telekom was René Obermann . Obermann has been on friendly terms with Ricke since the mid-1990s at the Association of Providers of Telecommunications and Value-Added Services .

During his time as chairman of the company's board of directors, the investigations of the Bonn public prosecutor's office started against Ricke in 2008 because of the so-called telecommunications spying affair . The investigation was later discontinued.

Telecom strategy

Both also pursued the same strategy to reorganize their finances, according to the tenor of the business press there was therefore no objective reason for his replacement. Ricke's cooperative management style made him popular with his employees. He began taking office as CEO of Deutsche Telekom with a debt reduction program. He set a further accent during his tenure with the restructuring of Telekom by turning away from Ron Sommer's "four-pillar strategy" and the repurchase of T-Online shares by Telekom AG.

In November 2005, as a consequence of the high competitive pressure, he announced the shedding of 32,000 jobs in the entire telecommunications group.

Ricke in the aftermath of Telekom

On February 20, 2008, Ricke was appointed to the new supervisory board of United Internet AG by the Montabaur district court . In August 2007, Ricke and other business partners registered the fund company German Private Equity Partners in the Swiss commercial register. The company, based in the tax haven of Zug , was supposed to raise 500 to 750 million euros in order to finance company takeovers. However, it was unsuccessful and was dissolved at the end of June 2009.

Ricke was also active for various private equity companies. In addition to his advisory work for BC Partners, Ricke was a member of the supervisory board of Kabel Baden-Württemberg, a wholly-owned subsidiary of EQT, an advisory member of easycash , a former Warburg Pincus portfolio company, and non-executive chairman of the board of directors of Apollo Europe Investment, a European Mezzanine find from Apollo. Ricke was temporarily a board member of Saudi Oger Telecom Ltd. He was also a member of the supervisory board of the Italian insurance company Generali, Trieste.

Ricke has been Executive Chairman of the Board of Delta Partners worldwide since 2010. Delta Partners is an investment and consulting company specializing in telecommunications in developing and emerging countries, headquartered in Dubai. In addition, he sits on several supervisory boards, such as B. Zalando Berlin, United Internet , Montabaur, euNetworks Singapore and SUSI Partners, Zurich, a fund manager specializing in investments in sustainable energy generation, building efficiency and energy storage. Ricke supports the Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance and is a member of the mentor network of Benotat & Cie, Essen.

family

Ricke's father, Helmut Ricke , was CEO of Deutsche Bundespost Telekom between 1990 and 1994 . His younger brother, Jens Ricke, has been director of the Radiology Clinic at Grosshadern University Hospital since 2017 .

See also

• Telecom spying affair

literature

• Barbara Nolte, Jan Heidtmann: The one up there. Interior views from German executive floors. , Suhrkamp-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-518-12599-1 , p. 13 ff.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} “Obermann für Ricke” , Süddeutsche Zeitung , November 12, 2006
2. ↑ Rickes ' declaration of resignation , www.telekom3.de , November 12, 2006
3. ↑ Proceedings against Ricke and Zumwinkel discontinued . Wirtschaftswoche. June 14, 2010. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
4. ↑ "Ricke did nothing wrong" (tagesschau.de archive), tagesschau , November 13, 2006
5. ↑ Peter Lessmann, dpa : "Kai-Uwe Ricke - via mobile communications to the top of the Telekom?" Heise Newsticker , November 10, 2002
6. ↑ Kai-Uwe Ricke justified job cuts at Telekom at Wikinews , May 4, 2006
7. ↑ Kai-Uwe Ricke becomes the new supervisory board at United Internet . United Internet press release. February 20, 2008. Retrieved November 12, 2014.
8. ↑ Ricke fails as a financial investor . Handelsblatt. September 15, 2009. Retrieved June 24, 2013.
9. ^ Kai Uwe Ricke is Partner and Chairman at Delta Partners . April 12, 2010. Archived from the original on August 8, 2014. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 2, 2014.