Manfred Schmitt (entrepreneur)

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Manfred Schmitt (born December 10, 1950 in Darmstadt ) is a German entrepreneur.

Career as an entrepreneur

Schmitt initially aimed for a career as a concert pianist, but then studied industrial engineering with a specialization in mechanical engineering at the Technical University in Darmstadt . During his studies he opened a total of 5 music stores in the Rhine-Main area and 10 music schools with over 2,500 students under the name “Orgelschmitt”.

When the first computer-controlled synthesizers came onto the market in the late 1970s , Schmitt converted his company into "Schmitt Computer Systems". In the 1980s he successfully sold the then popular home computer Commodore C64 .

In 1991 Schmitt founded the company ESCOM , with which he went public two years later. ESCOM AG advanced to become the third largest computer manufacturer in Europe with over 500 own branches in 10 countries, 3 own production facilities in Europe and over 2,000 employees with a turnover of over 2.3 billion DM (1994). In the mid-1990s, ESCOM AG bought the rights to the Amiga and Commodore brands and began to manufacture the well-known home computers and bring them to market.

At about the same time, there was an increasing decline in margins in the computer industry, and the development of new and more powerful processors progressed ever faster. This led to losses at both ESCOM AG and its competitors. In 1996, after more than 10 years of development work, Schmitt resigned as CEO of ESCOM AG and handed this position over to the former IBM board member Helmut Jost. At that time, in addition to Schmitt, Siemens Nixdorf , the Quelle- Schickedanz Group and HypoVereinsbank were all shareholders in ESCOM AG.

Despite the financial efforts of the shareholders, Jost was unable to counter the upheaval in the industry. At the end of 1996 Jost filed for settlement for ESCOM AG, which was followed by the so-called follow-up bankruptcy. In the course of leaving ESCOM AG, Schmitt took over the telephone manufacturer Hagenuk ("Hanseatische Apparatebaugesellschaft Neufeldt & Kuhnke") in Kiel privately from Preussag AG . At the time of the takeover, Hagenuk had sales of around DM 300 million and made considerable losses. Schmitt, who has already proven himself as a marketing and salesman at ESCOM, increased the sales of Hagenuk Telekom GmbH within 24 months to over 500 million DM and thus led the company to profitability. By winning over the Singapore computer specialist IPC Corporation for a stake, Hagenuk Telekom's equity base was significantly strengthened. At the instigation of the house banks of Hagenuk Telekom and the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Schmitt sold his shares to the majority shareholder IPC in 1997. IPC itself tried to secure growth financing in cooperation with the banks involved and the state of Schleswig-Holstein. When this did not succeed, the managing directors at the time, led by Patrick Bouju, had to file a settlement application at the end of 1997, which resulted in subsequent bankruptcy in early 1998.

Hagenuk trial

The report by the bankruptcy trustee on the reasons for the Hagenuk bankruptcy and a special audit initiated by the trustee induced the Kiel public prosecutor to investigate Schmitt for falsification of accounts and breach of trust. As a result of this investigation, the public prosecutor brought charges in October 2002 against Schmitt, who was at the time on a business trip abroad. In December 2002 he was arrested by investigators from the Federal Criminal Police Office in Beirut and extradited from Lebanon to Germany . In December 2006 he was essentially acquitted by the Kiel Regional Court after only 6 days of trial, and the criminal proceedings against him were discontinued. In response to the appeal by the public prosecutor in Kiel, the Federal Court of Justice overturned the decision to terminate the case in September 2007 and referred the proceedings back to the regional court. With the decision of the 3rd major criminal chamber of the Kiel Regional Court on November 10, 2008, the criminal proceedings against Schmitt were finally set.

Schmitt had a lasting influence on the PC and multimedia market in the 1980s and 1990s. Products such as the first black design PC (ESCOM Black Label), the first mini notebook and the ongoing promotion of the products by the "ESCOM Extra Flyer" have become the standard for the sale of high-quality multimedia devices. Schmitt was one of the first to attempt to refinance technological development costs through third-party marketing as early as the early 1990s. He mainly focused on the integration of various media in the audio, video and multimedia sectors - especially in the automotive sector.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Jahn: Schmitt makes mobile , Die Zeit 42/1995
  2. ↑ Old historical stocks and securities , website Antiquariat Schöne Aktien . Retrieved February 16, 2011.
  3. ↑ Escom history , Amiga history website. Retrieved February 16, 2011.
  4. ↑ Ralf Krämer, Erwin Soldo: Rascher Access , Focus October 8, 1995. Retrieved February 16, 2011.
  5. ↑ Eva Müller: Size matters , Focus March 11, 1996. Accessed February 16, 2011.
  6. ↑ Frank Mäcke: Rise and Fall - Little Hope for ESCOM , c't 8/96 ( Memento from July 8, 2001 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ Ambitions in the TK market Escom founder Schmitt buys the Preussag subsidiary Hagenuk ( Memento from September 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), Computerwoche October 13, 1995. Accessed on February 16, 2011.
  8. ↑ http://www.computerwoche.de/a/ambUNGEN-im-tk-markt-escom-gruender-schmitt-kauf-die-preussag-t Nahrungsmittel-hagenuk, 1117468
  9. ↑ Link text ( Memento from July 24, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ), ChannelPartner July 2, 1997. Accessed on February 16, 2011.
  10. ^ Ulrich Metschies: Emergency call from the north , Die Zeit edition 52/1997. Retrieved February 16, 2011.
  11. ↑ Hagenuk: Transferred and delivered - manager magazin. In: manager-magazin.de. January 29, 2003, accessed November 15, 2018 .
  12. ^ Acquittal for ex-Hagenuk boss Schmitt , NDR Online, December 11, 2006 ( Memento of December 30, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ↑ http://www.ln-online.de/news/pdf/2017324 (link not available)
  14. ^ Another criminal case for the bankruptcy of the telephone manufacturer Hagenuk , heise online, September 7, 2007
  15. ^ Judgment of the Federal Court of Justice of August 30, 2007, Az. 3 StR 170/07
  16. ^ Decision of the LG Kiel from November 10, 2008
personal data
SURNAME Schmitt, Manfred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur (ESCOM)
DATE OF BIRTH December 10, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Darmstadt