United Internet is a leading European internet specialist with two fast-growing segments and a scalable business comprising approx. 67 million customer accounts in 18 countries.

Equity Story of United Internet AG

  • Founded in 1988, United Internet AG is a leading European internet specialist with around 27 million fee-based customer contracts and approx. 40 million ad-financed free accounts around the world.
     
  • At the heart of our company is our high-performance Internet Factory, where 10,700 dedicated employees – of which 3,800 in product management – ensure operational excellence for approx. 67 million customer accounts in 18 countries.
     
  • Our operating business is divided into the business units "Access" and "Applications". They are again subdivided into the segments "Consumer Access" and "Business Access" as well as the segments "Consumer Applications" and "Business Applications".

    Business unit “Access”
    • The business unit "Access" comprises our fee-based access products for private and business customers. These include - in the segment "Consumer Access" - broadband and mobile access products including associated applications (such as home connectivity, online storage, telephony, video-on-demand or IPTV) and - in the segment "Business Access" - data and network solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises as well as infrastructure services for large enterprises. In this business segment, we operate exclusively in Germany and are one of the leading providers in terms of customer contracts and revenues.
       
    • In the unit "Access", we combine our infrastructure (one of the largest fiber optic networks in Germany with a length of more than 55,000 km) with standardized network services from various wholesale providers. These network services - whether broadband or mobile - are upgraded with end devices from well-known providers as well as with applications and services developed in-house in our "Internet factory" and developed into independent telecommunications products to differentiate the products from the competition.

    Business unit “Applications”
    • The business unit "Applications" with its two segments "Business Applications" and "Consumer Applications" comprises both ad-financed and fee-based applications products for private and business customers. These applications include e-mail applications, domains, homepages, web hosting, cloud servers, e-shops, groupwork, online storage and office applications. The applications are developed in our "Internet factory" or in cooperation with partner companies and operated on around 100,000 servers in our 11 data centers. In the "Applications" division, we are a global leader with operations in numerous European and North American countries.
       
    • In our segment "Business Applications“, we offer a wide range of high-performance applications that open up business opportunities for our customers on the Internet and help them to digitize their processes. For this purpose, our product range - based on our proven hosting packages - has been expanded in recent years by numerous cloud-based e-business solutions. Thanks to our hosting and cloud applications, we are one of the most successful companies in this segment worldwide.
       
    • In the segment "Consumer Applications", we offer our private customers a wide range of applications. These include web-hosting solutions tailored to private customers and applications for personal information management (e-mail, tasks, appointments, addresses). We are particularly active with consumer applications in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In our home market Germany, we are the leading provider of e-mail accounts and clouds in terms of the number of users.
       
  • United Internet's core competency is to recognize customer wishes and trends at an early stage and thus to identify and exploit new market opportunities.
     
  • Our own product development, a high degree of flexibility, and considerable marketing and sales strength help us to place innovations on the market faster than others, as well as to market our products effectively and quickly achieve profitability.
     
  • Thanks to modular components, our products can be combined, extended, scaled and offered world-wide exactly as required.
     
  • Subscription-based customer contracts secure sustainable and plannable business with stable cash flows to finance future growth – organic or via investments and acquisitions.
     
  • The dynamic market development, especially in the field of mobile internet and cloud applications, as well as the further internationalization of our Applications business, offer considerable growth opportunities for United Internet – also in the medium and long term.
     
  • With over 25 years of experience, our expertise in software development and data center operation, marketing, sales and active customer support, our strong and well-known brands (such as 1&1, IONOS, GMX, WEB.DE and 1&1 Versatel), and our existing customer relationships with millions of home users, freelancers and companies, we are excellently placed to actively shape further market developments.

Investment Highlights

  • A leading European internet specialist
  • Experienced management
  • Strong brands with high awareness levels
  • Scalable business
  • Stable sales and income from subscription-based customer contracts with strong cash flows
  • High sales strength and growth opportunities, especially in the fields of Mobile, E-Business and Cloud Applications
  • Strong positioning in Access business by combining own infrastructure (fiber-optic network with more than 57,000 km in Germany) with standardized third-party network services
  • Wide coverage of value chain in Applications business and high internationalization potential thanks to the “exportability” of our applications and 11 data centers in Europe and the USA with around 100,000 servers
  • Conservative decision and investment approach with long-term perspective
  • Shareholder return via dividends and share buybacks