If you wanted to illustrate the term "luxury problem" in the dictionary, then a family
photo of the Reimann billionaire
clan would
probably not be the worst choice. Although: There are practically no photos of the Reimanns - the clan is one of the most closed of all. The Reimanns are incredibly rich, their rise is one of the most spectacular economic stories of recent years. Things have been going on in the
family holding JAB for
some time
but not so good anymore, which is why the Reimanns are now less incredibly rich. And if the decisive thing doesn't happen soon, things could get uncomfortable in the near future for the large clan, most of which have left Germany for tax-favorable countries. My colleagues Sven Clausen and Martin Mehringer managed to research an inside report.
The central figure responsible for Reimann's fate is called
Peter Harf
. The family entered into a fatal pact with him years ago when they gave him not only the management, but also shares in JAB Holding. With numerous shares hastily bought together, for example in the coffee business (
Jacobs, Senseo
), in the beverage market (
Dr Pepper, Schweppes
) as well as in the cosmetics and luxury segment (
Gucci, Calvin Klein
) Harf increased the wealth of the Reimanns - he rules the family almost like a guardian.
Now they are plagued by scandals, unfortunate decisions and mismanagement.
The status quo on the fly: billions in losses in 2020, debts in the billions, unsolved problems, especially with the cosmetics subsidiary Coty, but also in almost all other fields.
But read for yourself: The misery of what was once the richest family in Germany.
Enlarge image
Scandals, unfortunate decisions and mismanagement:
JAB manager
Peter Harf
puts the Reimanns' wealth at risk
The economic news of the day:
The problems at
Thyssenkrupp
and its expensive steel subsidiary have been preoccupying us for a while now. Group boss
Martina Merz
has now hatched
a new secret plan: the steel division, for which a buyer was recently sought, is to be brought to the stock exchange via spin-off. It's a daring plan, writes my colleague Thomas Werres, who reports on the operation here. For success, Merz needs help from the state worth billions, talks are ongoing in Düsseldorf.
Oliver Zipse
, who has been head of
BMW
for a good year and a half, is
also hoping for help from the state
. Or better: for even more help. It is not the case that the public sector has so far been completely inactive in the electrification of road traffic. My colleagues Michael Freitag and Martin Noé conducted a detailed interview with Zipse. They talked to the car manager about not enough sustainable electric cars, about China and about the new competition from
Apple
and
Tesla
. Zipse also announced new, ambitious growth targets. The BMW boss on the carmaker's "question of survival"
Ex-
Siemens
boss
Joe Kaeser
has to be satisfied again with the second-best solution: He moves into the supervisory board of the Daimler subsidiary
Daimler Truck
and is later to take over the chairmanship there. Mind you: Daimler Truck, not
Daimler
. As you know, he didn't get the job. At Siemens, too, Kaeser was unable to chair the supervisory board of the entire group. There he was only left with the role of chairman of the supervisory board of the spun off subsidiary
Siemens Energy
, which has since been promoted to the Dax.
Yesterday there was already speculation, today it is official:
Bernd Osterloh
, head of the works council at
Volkswagen
for 16 years
, is moving to the board of the truck subsidiary Traton.
Daniela Cavallo will
succeed him as probably the most powerful employee representative in German industry
.
Here we introduce you to the new head of the VW works council.
What else was important today:
Yesterday you learned from us that the Federal Ministry of Finance is working on a clarification on the taxation of profits from transactions with cryptocurrencies. Today, a comparable report from the USA is causing movement in the crypto market: Because US President
Joe Biden
may be planning a drastic increase in capital gains tax, the price of Bitcoin and other digital money literally collapsed. In the case of
cryptocurrencies
in particular,
society's right to financial contributions can be easily derived: Read here how Bitcoin is promoted with the help of coal-fired power plants and why it is therefore possibly the dirtiest currency in the world.
Everyone knows the fund giant
Blackrock
, the world's largest private investment house. The European and much smaller variant is called
Amundi
, which manages 1.7 trillion euros. With the help of a number of takeovers, the French asset manager has risen to number one on the old continent. The new boss
Valérie Baudson
now has to continue the growth course, and the colleagues from the "Economist", whose piece I would like to recommend to you here, also know how: in the booming business with ETFs, with sustainable investments - and a bet on China.
With the appearance of the most prominent witness, the Wirecard investigative committee ended its surveys today: Chancellor
Angela Merkel
had advertised the scandalous company and continues to defend it - even the MPs do not see her personally to be very guilty.
My colleague Katharina Slodczyk, who closely and often accompanied the committee on site, has once again summarized the most important things for you: four findings and a dead end after 300 hours of interviewing witnesses.
On our own behalf:
Have you already registered for the free resilience webinar of our colleagues from
manage> forward
?
Next Tuesday and Thursday evening, Executive Coach
Karsten Drath
explains
how we train our crisis skills and defuse thought traps that regularly lead us astray.
Register here!
My recommendation for the evening:
Enlarge image
Willingness to intervene of all kinds: Annalena Baerbock
would like to become Chancellor
Photo:
Andreas Gora / POOL / EPA
"There is a very great willingness to intervene of all kinds" - the diagnosis that my colleague Christian Schütte
makes
after reading the
Greens'
program
for the Bundestag elections, is unlikely to be heard by anyone in Germany's leadership. Nevertheless, everyone should take them seriously, because according to the current status it seems very likely that the party that made
Annalena Baerbock
her top candidate
this week
will have a clear say after the election. Christian Schütte and his colleagues Sven Clausen and Martin Noé are therefore in the new episode of their weekly
podcast
"The Topic" pursued the key question: What are the Greens planning to do with the economy?
The three agree: the economy will have to adjust to other times.
Why?
Have a listen.
Best regards, yours Christoph Rottwilm