Samwer brothers

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The brothers Marc (born December 3, 1970 in Cologne ), Oliver (born August 9, 1972 ) and Alexander Samwer (born January 31, 1975 ) are German Internet entrepreneurs . Together they founded the Internet incubator Rocket Internet in Berlin and the investment companies European Founders Fund and Global Founders Capital . Oliver Samwer is still the CEO of Rocket Internet SE today. In 2018, Alexander Samwer founded his own entrepreneurial holding company with the Arvantis Group with activities in the fields of technology , real estate and renewable energies .

Life

family

Marc Samwer (2013)
Oliver Samwer (2013)

The three brothers grew up in the Marienburg district of Cologne . Her father Sigmar-Jürgen Samwer was a Cologne lawyer specializing in press and competition law , who became known, among other things, for representing the Nobel Prize winner Heinrich Böll and Federal President Karl Carstens . The mother Sabine Samwer was also a lawyer in Cologne. The great uncle Adolf Franz Samwer was a member of the Bundestag ( GB / BHE , CDU ) and chairman of the board of the German health insurance in Cologne. The great-grandfather Karl August Friedrich Samwer was an honorary citizen of Gotha and headed the Gotha mutual life insurance bank from 1903 to 1930 . The great-great-grandfather Karl Friedrich Lucian Samwer was a professor of constitutional law in Kiel and a councilor in the State Ministry of Saxony-Coburg and Gotha . The three brothers started their own families and have several children.

education

Marc, Oliver and Alexander Samwer did their Abitur at the old-language Friedrich-Wilhelm-Gymnasium in Cologne. Marc Samwer studied law at the University of Cologne . After graduating from high school, Oliver Samwer studied business administration at the private WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management ( formerly: Scientific University for Management ) in Vallendar near Koblenz and at its partner school, the Kellogg School of Management in Illinois . During his studies he received a scholarship from the German National Academic Foundation , then a trainee at the Sal. Oppenheim investment bank . In 1998 he and Max Finger created the study America's Most Successful Startups. Lessons for entrepreneurs. on the start, build and growth of American Internet companies. The work was supervised by Horst Albach . After graduating from high school in 1994, Alexander Samwer studied economics and politics at Oxford and business administration ( MBA ) at Harvard Business School .

Companies

The entrepreneurial activity of the Samwer brothers consists of founding, building up and selling companies in the technology sector. You are one of the pioneers in the area of ​​business start-ups in Germany, which is being pushed by politicians. Companies in which the Samwer brothers were involved were often successfully sold.

Alando

In 1999 the brothers together with Max Finger, Karel Dörner and Jörg Rheinboldt founded the Internet auction house Alando based on the model of the US company eBay . The six founders were supported by friends, relatives and professors, so-called business angels , in an advisory capacity and as guarantors . The two financiers, Wellington Partners and Burda Digital Ventures (BDV), today Acton Capital Partners , invested more than ten million marks and received shares in their company in return. The majority of the shares remained with the founders. In March 1999 Alando went online; After just a good 100 days, the six sold their company to eBay for around 50 million dollars in May. After the sale, the Samwer brothers were appointed managing directors of eBay Europe .

Jamba

In August 2000, the Samwer brothers founded together with Max finger and Ole Brandenburg, major corporate partners Debitel , Electronic Partner and Metro owned subsidiaries Media Markt and Saturn , the Jamba GmbH . Alexander Samwer left the company in 2003 to do an MBA at Harvard University . Under the leadership of Oliver and Marc Samwer, Jamba developed into the largest European provider of ring tones and mobile phone applications . At times, the company came under heavy criticism for aggressively marketing the new subscriptions for cellular services created by telecommunications companies. In 2004 the US company VeriSign took over Jamba for 273 million dollars , in which Oliver and Marc Samwer held the management until December 19, 2005.

Rocket Internet / European Founders Fund

Since the beginning of 2006, the Samwer brothers have been active as venture capitalists for start-ups in the Internet and mobile communications sector . The investments of Rocket Internet or its European Founders Fund include the online fashion company Zalando , the online food order service Delivery Hero , the online grocery delivery service HelloFresh , the online furniture companies Home24 and Westwing .

In January 2008 it was announced that the Samwers had acquired company shares in Facebook . On February 17, 2011 it became public that they had sold the shares again. The reason they gave was the concentration on the early phase and growth area. The brothers are estimated to have tripled their capital expenditure.

In July 2008 the Samwer brothers acquired 20 percent of Internetstores AG . On March 30, 2012 it was announced that these shares had been sold again. On December 30, 2008, the brothers bought shares in MyHammer Holding AG, whose subsidiary is the internet platform myhammer , over the counter via European Founders Fund Investment GmbH . The price per share was well above that of the market at EUR 3.70.

On May 16, 2010, the Samwer brothers sold MyCityDeal - a replica (clone) of the US model Groupon - for USD 170 million. In 2010 they held 10% of the shares in Groupon. On December 1st, 2011 it was announced that the Samwer brothers would participate in a financing round totaling four million euros for the handicraft marketplace DaWanda through the European Founders Fund .

With Rocket Internet, the brothers held shares in Wimdu (in China: Airizu.com) until 2016 , whose concept followed that of Airbnb , but discontinued its offer in October 2018.

Zalando went public on October 1, 2014, and Rocket Internet went public the following day . The issue price per share of Zalando was 21.50 euros, that of Rocket Internet was 42.50 euros. According to Klaus Nieding, Vice-President of the German Association for Protection of Securities , the shares are classified as "speculative investments".

Global Founders Capital

In March 2013 it was announced that the Samwer brothers would be launching a EUR 150 million fund called Global Founders Capital (GFC) for company founders. The fund aims to support young start-ups around the world. The fund is thus finding a gap in the financing of business start-ups in Germany.

capital

The fortune of the three Samwer brothers was given on the Forbes 2020 list at around one billion euros each. This puts the Samwer brothers at 1.999 on Forbes' list of the richest people in the world.

social commitment

The Samwer brothers are involved in different social projects in different ways, especially in the field of education. Alexander Samwer is committed to more environmental protection through his entrepreneurial activities and his commitment as a founding member of the "Leaders for Climate Action" initiative.

criticism

Both the Samwer brothers and Rocket Internet are criticized for their entrepreneurial activities. Many attacks are aimed at their profitable practice of imitating business models and products of other companies. For example, Alando was the replica of the US auction platform eBay , MyCityDeal that of Groupon . At times, according to individual critics, there was too much pressure to perform within Rocket Internet, similar to that at investment banks and management consultancies. Further allegations apply to a partially "attention-grabbing" advertising strategy of the portfolio companies, an authoritarian management style with high performance pressure and the sometimes aggressive business conduct. Marc Samwer is accused of gentrification in a building with a music club , where the club was subject to noise pollution and the rent was increased significantly.

Fonts

  • Max Finger, Oliver Samwer: America's Most Successful Startups. Lessons for entrepreneurs . Gabler, 2001, ISBN 3-409-21409-7 .

Movie

  • The great Samwer show. The billion dollar business of the Zalando boys. Documentary, Germany 2014, 43:30 min., Script and direction: Christian Esser and Birte Meier, production: ZDF , editing: Frontal 21 , first broadcast: August 26, 2014 on ZDF, online .

literature

  • Joel Kaczmarek: The godparents of the internet: Zalando, Jamba, Groupon - how the three Samwer brothers build the largest internet empire in the world. FinanzBook, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-89879-880-8 .
  • Torsten Oelke: Stars of the Internet: Successful web entrepreneurs and their history. Redline, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-86414-144-7 .
  • Uwe Pütz: The new makers: Advisors to successful entrepreneurs; your way to business success - from the idea to the product - examples and tips for founders. Schlütersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Hanover 2003, ISBN 978-3-89994-000-8 .
  • Mathias Stuhr: Myth of the New Economy: Working on the history of the information society. Transcript, Bielefeld 2014, ISBN 978-3-83941-430-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Oliver Samwer . In: Munzinger Archive , accessed on July 6, 2015.
  2. ↑ Lisa Ksienrzyk: Alexander Samwer builds his own investment group. In: Gründerszene. Vertical Media GmbH, October 8, 2018, accessed on November 15, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b Joachim Hirzel, Tanja Treser: The fabulous Samwer Boys. In: Focus , October 19, 2012, accessed on August 28, 2014.
  4. ↑ Joel Kaczmarek: The godparents of the internet: Zalando, Jamba, Groupon - how the three Samwer brothers build the largest internet empire in the world. FinanzBook Verlag, Munich 2014, pp. 17–23.
  5. ^ Christian Rickens, Thomas Werres: The Murks Brothers. In: manager magazin , February 18, 2011.
  6. ↑ Marc's bio. In: European Founders , accessed on August 28, 2014.
  7. ↑ Oliver's bio. In: European Founders , accessed on August 28, 2014.
  8. ↑ Meet The German Brothers Making Billions By Conquering Markets Untouched By Amazon And Alibaba . Business Insider . Retrieved April 2, 2019.
  9. ↑ a b Michael Verfürden, Peter Köhler: More money for founders - KfW is investing 2 billion euros. In: Handelsblatt. Handelsblatt GmbH, October 9, 2018, accessed on November 15, 2019 .
  10. ↑ S. e.g .: Joel Kaczmarek: The godparents of the internet: Zalando, Jamba, Groupon - how the Samwer brothers build the largest internet empire in the world . 3. Edition. FinanzBook Verlag, 2014, ISBN 978-3-89879-917-1 , p. 50 f.
  11. ↑ Markus Brauck, Martin U. Müller : Fast brothers. In: Der Spiegel . August 13, 2017. Retrieved May 14, 2012 .
  12. ↑ Cf. Mathias Stuhr: Myth New Economy: The work on the history of the information society. transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2014, pp. 106–114.
  13. ↑ H.-P. Siebenhaar: Crazy Frog generates record sales. In: Handelsblatt. Handelsblatt GmbH, September 18, 2006, accessed on November 15, 2019 .
  14. ↑ Nina von Hardenberg: Millionaire with a flair for the niche in the market. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , December 5, 2008.
  15. ↑ Melanie Wassink: Zalando mixes up the internet trade. In: Hamburger Abendblatt , February 3, 2012. From Abendblatt.de, accessed on November 29, 2019.
  16. ↑ Daniel Bakir: The billion-dollar businesses of the notorious Samwer brothers. In: stern , August 26, 2014. From Stern.de, accessed on November 29, 2019.
  17. ↑ Alex Hofmann: 72 million euros for Rockets Westwing. In: Gründerszene , April 3, 2014. From Gruenderszene.de, accessed on November 29, 2019.
  18. ↑ Christian Stöcker: The Samwer brothers buy into Facebook. In: Spiegel Online . Retrieved January 16, 2008 .
  19. ↑ Christian Rickens: The Samwer brothers sell Facebook shares. In: manager magazin . Retrieved February 17, 2011 .
  20. ↑ Jochen Krisch: Fahrrad.de gets 30 million euros and pays the Samwers. In: excitingcommerce.de , March 30, 2012.
  21. ↑ MyHammer Holding AG bearer shares oN In: onvista.de , accessed on August 28, 2014.
  22. ^ Michael Arrington: Groupon Invades Europe With Acquisition Of Citydeal. In: TechCrunch.com , May 16, 2010, accessed August 28, 2014.
  23. ↑ Awazeh Khoschnam: Four million euros and foreign offices on DaWanda's five-year-old. In: Gründerszene , December 1, 2011.
  24. ↑ See Wimdu, Rocket Internet's Airbnb clone, to shut down this year 'facing significant business challenges . In: TechCrunch , September 27, 2018, accessed April 2, 2019.
  25. ↑ See: Samwer Brothers: Long faces after Rocket Internet went public . In: Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten , October 3, 2014, accessed on October 23, 2014.
  26. ↑ Samwer brothers set up multi-million dollar funds for start-ups. In: Handelsblatt , March 18, 2013.
  27. ↑ Alexander Samwer. In: Forbes. Retrieved June 16, 2020 (English).
  28. ↑ Marc Samwer. In: Forbes. Retrieved June 16, 2020 (English).
  29. ↑ Oliver Samwer. In: Forbes. Retrieved June 16, 2020 (English).
  30. ↑ Generous donation from FWG alumni. Retrieved November 15, 2019 .
  31. ↑ Our commitment. In: Augustus. Retrieved November 15, 2019 .
  32. ↑ Arvantis Group Responsibility. Retrieved November 15, 2019 .
  33. ^ Philipp Alvares de Souza Soares: German digital celebrities join forces for climate protection. In: Manager Magazin. manager magazin new media GmbH, August 26, 2019, accessed on November 15, 2019 .
  34. ^ Matt Cowan: Inside the clone factory: The story of Germany's Samwer brothers , in: Wired , March 2, 2012.
  35. ↑ Mark Milian: Germany's Samwer Brothers Take Their Web Copycat Act Global In: Businessweek , May 15, 2014.
  36. ↑ Kim Richters: When founders are threatened with burnout. In: WirtschaftsWoche. November 6, 2018, accessed November 18, 2019 .
  37. ↑ Lisa Hegemann: The meshes of the Samwer brothers: Aggressive marketing. In: Handelsblatt , August 27, 2014.
  38. ↑ Lisa Hegemann: The meshes of the Samwer brothers: unpredictable management style. In: Handelsblatt , August 27, 2014.
  39. ↑ Axel Hansen: The black box. In: Die Zeit , October 1, 2014.
  40. ↑ Susanne Messmer: Gentrification in Berlin: The club death continues . In: The daily newspaper: taz . January 22, 2018, ISSN  0931-9085 ( taz.de [accessed March 5, 2018]).