René Obermann
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René Obermann (born 5 March 1963) is a German businessman who currently serves as Co-Head of
Warburg Pincus Warburg Pincus LLC is a global private equity firm, headquartered in New York, with offices in the United States, Europe, Brazil, China, Southeast Asia and India. Warburg has been a private equity investor since 1966. The firm currently has over ...
International LLC's European operations, and also serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of
Airbus SE Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...
since 16 April 2020. He was previously (from 13 November 2006 until 31 December 2013) CEO of
Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...
AG.


Early life

Obermann was born in Düsseldorf and was raised in
Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; li, Krieëvel ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, i ...
. After graduating high school and completing
military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Some nations (e.g., Mexico) require a ...
, where he spent two years in the
air force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...
, he started his professional career at BMW in Munich and completed a business apprenticeship programme in 1986. From 1986 to 1988, he studied economics at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität in Münster.


Career

Also in 1986, Obermann founded his own company ABC Telekom (now The Phone House Telecom GmbH), located in Münster, Germany. Andreas Gerdes was his business partner from 1988 to 1992. He gave up studying after 2 years due to the successful development of ABC. In 1991, ABC Telekom merged with
Hutchison Whampoa Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL) was an investment holding company based in Hong Kong. It was a Fortune Global 500 company and one of the largest companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. HWL was an international corporation with a dive ...
Ltd. and became Hutchison Mobilfunk GmbH. Obermann was Managing Partner from 1992 to 1993 and Chief Executive Officer from 1993 to 1998. After having sold his remaining shares, Obermann started his career at Deutsche Telekom Group, first at T-Mobile Deutschland GmbH as a Member of the Executive Board. From March 2000 to March 2002 he was CEO of T-Mobile Deutschland. In June 2001, he additionally became CEO Europe at T-Mobile International AG. In November 2002, he became Board Member of
Deutsche Telekom AG Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...
and was then appointed as CEO of the group's mobile division, T-Mobile International AG. He took over the last two roles from Kai-Uwe Ricke who was appointed as CEO of Deutsche Telekom AG. After Ricke had resigned in 2006, Obermann became the CEO of
Deutsche Telekom AG Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...
. During Obermann's tenure as CEO, he was instrumental in obtaining an exclusive partnership from
Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...
for Deutsche Telekom to sell the original iPhone in Germany and in other European countries in late-2007. Other successes were the German market leadership, the merger of
Orange UK Orange mobile UK was a mobile network operator and internet service provider in the United Kingdom, launched in 1994. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was purchased by France Télécom (now Orange S.A.) in 2000, which then a ...
and
T-Mobile UK T-Mobile UK was a mobile network operator in the UK. First launched as Mercury One2One (stylised one2one) on 7 January 1993, the network was originally operated by Mercury Communications. one2one was purchased by Deutsche Telekom in 1999, who ...
to Everything Everywhere (now
EE Limited EE is a British national mobile network operator and internet service provider, which is a brand within the BT Group. EE is the second-largest mobile network operator in the United Kingdom, with 26.1 million subscribers as of September 2 ...
) and the merger of
MetroPCS Metro by T-Mobile (formerly known as MetroPCS and also known simply as Metro) is an American prepaid wireless service provider and brand owned by T-Mobile US. It previously operated the fifth largest mobile telecommunications network in the U ...
with
T-Mobile USA T-Mobile US, Inc. is an American wireless network operator headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas and Bellevue, Washington, U.S. Its largest shareholder is a multinational telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG, which , holds 48.4 perc ...
in the US and its subsequent
IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
. In 2012, Obermann also took over responsibility for innovation in the group. From February 2007 to November 2013, Obermann was Vice President of Germany's digital association BITKOM. Obermann left
Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...
in December 2013 and assumed the role of CEO of the Dutch cable and internet provider,
Ziggo Ziggo Holding B.V. () is the largest cable operator in the Netherlands, providing digital cable television, Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers. History The company is the result of the merger between ...
. His decision was already published in 2012 – he wanted to go back to a more operational role – back into the 'machine room' where he came from. In 2014 it became public that Ziggo would become takeover target of Liberty Global. Obermann announced that he would therefore leave the company upon completion of the merger, which took place at the end of 2014. In February 2015, Obermann became Partner and Managing Director at Warburg Pincus International LLC. In April 2016, Obermann became a member of the advisory board of the German Internet Economy Foundation, which supports the German and European digital economy. René Obermann is also a partner in US-based private equity fir
Warburg Pincus
and a managing director of Warburg Pincus Deutschland GmbH. In April 2020, Obermann became Chairman of the Board of Directors of Airbus SE, succeeding
Denis Ranque Denis Ranque (born 7 January 1952 in Marseille) is a French engineer and businessman who served as CEO and chairman of Thales Group from 1998 until 2009. Career In 1976, Denis Ranque began his career as an engineer of the Corps des mines at the M ...
.


Other activities


Corporate boards

*
Airbus SE Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...
Chairman of the Board of Directors (since 2020) *
Telenor Group Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwide, ...
Member of the Board of Directors (2018–2019) * Allianz Deutschland AG, Member of the Supervisory Board (2017–2020) * inexio Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KGaA, Member of the Supervisory Board (2017–2020) * Inmarsat, Non-Executive Member of the Board of Directors * IONOS Internet Holding SE, Chairman of the Supervisory Board (since 2017) *
Strato AG Strato AG is an internet hosting service provider headquartered in Berlin, Germany. It is a subsidiary of United Internet AG. Strato operates mainly in Germany and the Netherlands and serves more than 2 million customer contracts. History Str ...
, Chairman of the Supervisory Board (since 2017) * ''
Die Zeit ''Die Zeit'' (, "The Time") is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The ...
'', Member of the Editorial Board (2017–2019) * CompuGroup Medical SE, Member of the Supervisory Board (2015–2017) *
Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...
Technology SA, Member of the Supervisory Board (2014–2016) * E.ON SE, Member of the Supervisory Board (2011–2016) *
ThyssenKrupp ThyssenKrupp AG (, ; stylized as thyssenkrupp) is a German industrial engineering and steel production multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. It is the result of the 1999 merger of Thyssen AG and Krupp and h ...
AG, Member of the Supervisory Board (2013–2018)


Non-profit organizations

* German Startups Association, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2019)Peter Brors and Thomas Tuma (8 December 2019)
"Start-up-Investor Miele: 'Wir müssen uns einfach besser organisieren als Branche'"
''
Handelsblatt The ''Handelsblatt'' (literally "commerce paper" in English) is a German-language business newspaper published in Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Du ...
''.
* German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM), Vice-President (2007–2013)


Personal life

Obermann married German television presenter
Maybrit Illner Maybrit Illner (née Klose; born 12 January 1965) is a German journalist and television presenter. Education Born in East Berlin, Illner went to school in the Friedrichshain area of Berlin and studied journalism at the University of Leipzig ...
in August 2010. He also has two children from a previous marriage.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obermann, Rene 1963 births Deutsche Telekom German chief executives People from Krefeld Living people