Rocket Internet AGM: Dicke Backen – SPIEGEL ONLINE

At the beginning of the Annual General Meeting occurs Oliver Samwer front of the stage, on the other executives and board members have placed. He wears a dark suit, a red-white-striped tie. The review of recent months is considered him. “What makes Rocket Internet really?” he asks the audience. The question is not rhetorical. Too many investors and observers have obviously failed to understand still what the Berlin Internet company since actually makes – amassing huge losses for the year except year. But in 2015 burned the Rocket investments one billion euros

So Oliver Samwer begins very beginning:. Rocket Internet’m promising Internet business models identified and then pull it up. “Most of these companies fail,” said Samwer continued, “this is normal and part of our corporate culture.” The art was to recognize the failure in time and not lose too much money by then. Last Rocket had pulled the ripcord at grocery delivery service Bonativo. Here, Rocket confined to those fields that are already successful in the Internet: the sale of food, furniture and clothing.

For the second time Rocket – the Internet company, to which all in the Berlin startup scene and look beyond – loaded to its Annual General Meeting. This time not in a stuffy room at Bahnhof Zoo, but in its new headquarters in the capital: wood-paneled walls, exposed concrete pillars, though all still a bit tentative. The end of August, the company wants to move here.

A veritable factional dispute

Rocket Internet has anything but a successful year. The share price has halved since the IPO nearly two years ago. One of the greatest hopes in Rocket portfolio, the Essensboxlieferant Hello Fresh, had to call off shortly its own stock market plans. And then also the main investor Kinnevik has adopted from the Supervisory Board. For the first time the Swedes express at the meeting about the background: Because Rocket Internet increasingly self-will to any investor, may be seen any conflicts with the own business, says Kinnevik CEO Lorenzo Grabau

In fact lies behind a. veritable factional dispute: his Will Rocket an investor who is just money – or a start-up factory that produces Internet companies themselves? Recently found some evidence that Rocket will focus on the role of a lender. At the Berlin Delivery Delivery Hero has invested around 500 million euros in the Rocket, Samwer has no significant strategic influence. Delivery Hero vehemently against it.

Humility is not quite his thing

Shareholders opposite exerts Oliver Samwer at the general meeting in restraint. 2016 will be do everything possible to guide the investments of the company Kosmos at least in the vicinity of black figures. End 2017, at least three of the larger companies to achieve profitability, Samwer announces. Finally, it may be known that one must deal responsibly with the money of investors. “Profitability is very, very important. We are on the way,” he says. He also promises to increase transparency. Until Rocket had the following characteristics of its investments made only very sparse public so that even experts did not realize how about this. “But even that has its limits,” said Samwer.

Also in other respects Samwer are cleansed: For IPO plans its startups he would not manifest itself. Even if these are probably ready for a transition to the capital market: “If there is no wind, it makes no sense to drive out.” In other words, the markets are too unpredictable. This had Hello Fresh out the end of 2015. painful.

That humility despite everything quite his thing is not Samwer had shown on an Internet conference not far from the new Rocket Center yesterday. For poor share price since he had declared in the usual manner: “The course I watch every two weeks, when I’m bored and I’m waiting in line.”