Ina Fried

Recent Posts by Ina Fried

Deutsche Telekom CEO Obermann Leaves for Video Post

Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann announced Thursday that he is leaving his post to join Dutch cable firm Ziggo.

Obermann will take over as Ziggo’s chief executive Jan. 1, following the planned retirement of current head Bernard Dijkhuizen.

“After 15 happy years at Deutsche Telekom, I am very pleased to join Ziggo,” Obermann said in a statement. “This opportunity fulfills my strong wish as an entrepreneur to move closer to operational activities and to be involved in a fast changing world of offering products and services in media and entertainment.”

Obermann has presided over a number of big moves at the company’s U.S. subsidiary, T-Mobile USA, including the failed bid to be acquired by AT&T, as well as more recent moves to merge with MetroPCS, add Apple products to its lineup and build an LTE network.

Deutsche Telekom said that CFO Timotheus Höttges will take over as CEO, effective Jan. 1.

“By 2014, we expect to halt the decline in revenues and start growing again,” Höttges said in a statement. “Therefore, we will invest heavily primarily in our networks in Germany, but also in those in the USA, to secure the future of our company.”

He also helped recruit new T-Mobile U.S. chief John Legere after the departure of Philipp Humm last year.

Latest Video

View all videos »

Search »

Just as the atom bomb was the weapon that was supposed to render war obsolete, the Internet seems like capitalism’s ultimate feat of self-destructive genius, an economic doomsday device rendering it impossible for anyone to ever make a profit off anything again. It’s especially hopeless for those whose work is easily digitized and accessed free of charge.

— Author Tim Kreider on not getting paid for one’s work