1. Group and company profile

1.1 Business model

Group structure

Founded in 1998 and based in Montabaur, Germany, United Internet AG is the parent company (hereinafter also referred to as “the Company”) of the United Internet Group.

Together with its service company United Internet Corporate Services GmbH, United Internet AG focuses mainly on centralized functions such as Finance, Corporate Controlling & Accounting, Tax, Investment Management, Press Relations, Investor Relations, Legal, Corporate Governance, Compliance & Sustainability, Risk Management, Corporate Audit, HR Management, Facility Management, Procurement, and Corporate IT.

Compared to the previous year, the Group structure as of December 31, 2021 is largely unchanged from the previous year.

Operating activities in the Consumer Access segment are mainly managed by the companies Drillisch Online GmbH and 1&1 Telecom GmbH – under the umbrella of 1&1 AG (formerly: 1&1 Drillisch AG).

In its Business Access segment, United Internet mainly operates via 1&1 Versatel Germany GmbH – held by 1&1 Versatel GmbH.

Operating activities in the Consumer Applications segment are primarily managed via the companies 1&1 De-Mail GmbH, 1&1 Energy GmbH, 1&1 Mail & Media GmbH, 1&1 Mail & Media Inc., and United Internet Media GmbH – pooled together under 1&1 Mail & Media Applications SE.

In its Business Applications segment, United Internet is primarily active via STRATO AG and its subsidiary Cronon GmbH – held by the holding companies IONOS TopCo SE (formerly: 1&1 IONOS TopCo SE) and IONOS Holding SE (formerly: 1&1 IONOS Holding SE) – as well as via IONOS SE (formerly: 1&1 IONOS SE) and its main domestic and foreign subsidiaries. These include – in addition to the foreign subsidiaries IONOS Inc. (USA; formerly: 1&1 IONOS Inc.), IONOS Cloud Ltd. (UK; formerly: 1&1 IONOS Ltd.), IONOS S.A.R.L. (France; formerly: 1&1 IONOS S.A.R.L.), and IONOS Cloud S.L.U. (Spain formerly: 1&1 IONOS España S.L.U.) – in particular Arsys Internet S.L.U. (Spain), Fasthosts Internet Ltd. (UK), home.pl S.A. (Poland), InterNetX GmbH, Sedo GmbH, united-domains AG, we22 AG (since February 2021), and World4You Internet Services GmbH (Austria).

In addition to these operating and fully consolidated subsidiaries, United Internet held a number of other investments as of December 31, 2021. These mainly consist of equity interests – held by United Internet Investments Holding AG & Co. KG – in Kublai GmbH, Frankfurt am Main (40.00%), which in turn holds 94.80% of shares in Tele Columbus AG, Berlin, and investments in the strategic partners Open-Xchange AG, Cologne (25.39%), rankingCoach International GmbH, Cologne (31.52%), uberall GmbH, Berlin (25.10%), and AWIN AG, Berlin (20.00%), as well as the investment (since December 2021) in Stackable GmbH, Pinneberg (25.10%) held by IONOS SE.

Further details on these investments and changes in investments are provided in chapter 2.2 “Business development” under “Group investments”.

A simplified illustration of the Group structure of United Internet with its significant operating subsidiaries and investments – as of December 31, 2021 – is shown in the following chart.

Business operations

With 26.68 million fee-based customer contracts (prior year: 25.65 million) and 40.32 million ad-financed free accounts (prior year: 39.40 million), United Internet is a leading European internet specialist.

The Group’s operating business is divided into the two business divisions “Access” and “Applications”, which in turn are divided into the segments “Consumer Access” and “Business Access”, as well as “Consumer Applications” and “Business Applications”.

Consumer Access segment

The Consumer Access segment comprises landline-based broadband products as well as mobile internet products (including the respective applications, such as home networks, online storage, telephony, or IPTV) for private users.

These internet access products are offered as subscription contracts with fixed monthly fees (and variable, volume-based charges) and contractually fixed terms.

With its broadband products under the 1&1 brand (especially VDSL/vectoring and fiber-optic connections), United Internet is one of Germany’s leading suppliers.

The Company uses its own fiber-optic network of 1&1 Versatel as the transport network for VDSL/vectoring connections and for direct fiber-optic connections (FTTH) it uses regional networks and the “last mile” via city carriers and Deutsche Telekom (mainly Layer-2). In the case of business with ADSL connections (currently being phased out), further advance service providers are used.

With its mobile internet products, United Internet is the leading Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) in Germany.

United Internet – indirectly via 1&1 AG – is the only MBA MVNO in Germany with long-term and guaranteed rights to up to 30% of the used network capacity of Telefónica Germany and thus extensive access to one of Germany’s largest mobile networks. In addition to its privileged access to the Telefónica network, the Company also purchases standardized mobile advance services from Vodafone.

These purchased network services are enhanced with end-user devices of major manufacturers, as well as self-developed applications and services in order to differentiate the Company from its competitors.

The mobile internet products are marketed via the premium brand 1&1 and discount brands, such as yourfone and smartmobile.de, which enable the Company to offer a comprehensive range of wireless products while also targeting specific customer groups.

As part of the planned rollout of its own powerful mobile communications network – and following its successful bid for two frequency blocks of 2 x 5 MHz in the 2 GHz band and five frequency blocks of 10 MHz in the 3.6 GHz band during the 5G spectrum auction in 2019 – United Internet concluded long-term agreements in the fiscal year 2021 and now has all key elements in place to drive forward the rollout of its own 5G mobile communications network and thus extend its added value in this market – as in its landline market. These agreements include the national roaming agreement between 1&1 and Telefónica concluded on May 21, 2021, which secures nationwide mobile coverage for 1&1 customers during the construction phase of United Internet’s own network through shared use of the Telefónica network, as well as the partnership announced on August 4, 2021 between 1&1 and Rakuten for the joint construction of Europe’s first fully virtualized mobile network based on the innovative OpenRAN technology. In addition, 1&1 signed an intercompany agreement with its affiliate 1&1 Versatel on December 9, 2021, which in particular provides the access network (especially fiber-optic cables) and data centers for operating 1&1’s mobile network on a rental basis, and on the same date an agreement was concluded between 1&1 AG and Vantage Towers AG, one of Europe’s leading companies for radio tower infrastructure, which among other things includes the renting of Vantage antenna locations and the installation of 1&1’s 5G high-performance antennas by Vantage.

Business Access segment

In its Business Access segment, United Internet offers a wide range of telecommunication products and services for business customers via the 1&1 Versatel brand.

The core of 1&1 Versatel’s business model is a cutting-edge fiber-optic network with a length of over 52,000 km, which is one of the largest networks in Germany and is constantly being expanded.

1&1 Versatel uses this network to offer its business customers telecommunication products – from fiber-optic direct connections to tailored ICT solutions (voice, data and network solutions). In addition, the 1&1 fiber-optic network is offered for infrastructure services (wholesale) to national and international carriers and ISPs.

The fiber-optic network directly connects commercial buildings and local authority sites (FTTB = Fiber-to-the-Building).

Consumer Applications segment

United Internet’s applications for home users are pooled in the Consumer Applications segment. In particular, these applications include Personal Information Management applications (e-mail, to-do lists, appointments, addresses), and online storage (cloud), as well as domains, website solutions tailored to consumer needs, and office software.

In the course of portfolio development over the past few years, the GMX and WEB.DE brands – the most widely used e-mail providers in Germany for many years now – have been expanded from pure e-mail service providers to complete command centers for the communication, information, and identity management needs of users.

Applications for home users are nearly all developed in-house (see 1.4 “Main focus areas for products and innovations”) and operated at the Group’s own data centers.

The products are offered as fee-based subscriptions (pay accounts) or – for free – in the form of ad-financed accounts (free accounts). These free accounts are monetized via classic – but increasingly also via data-driven – online advertising, which is marketed by United Internet Media.

United Internet markets its ad-financed applications and fee-based consumer applications via the GMX and WEB.DE brands primarily in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, where it is among the leading players.

Since the acquisition of the US provider mail.com, United Internet has also been driving its international expansion in this segment. In addition to the USA, mail.com targets other countries, such as the UK, France, and Spain.

Business Applications segment

In the Business Applications segment, United Internet opens up online business opportunities for freelancers and SMEs, helping them digitize their processes. This involves offering a broad range of powerful applications, such as domains, websites, web hosting, servers, cloud solutions and e-shops, group work, online storage (cloud), and office software, which customers can use via subscription agreements.

Based on its tried and tested, million-selling hosting packages, the Company has expanded its product range over the past few years with the addition of numerous cloud-based e-business solutions.

The applications are developed at the Company’s own development centers or in cooperation with partner firms and operated on over 90,000 servers at 10 data centers.

In its Business Applications segment, United Internet is also a leading global player with activities in Europe (Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and Slovakia) and North America (Canada, Mexico, and the USA). Further countries are to be gradually added.

Business applications are marketed to specific target groups via the differently positioned brands IONOS, Arsys, Fasthosts, home.pl, InterNetX, Strato, united-domains, and World4You. Via the Sedo brand, United Internet also offers customers professional services in the field of active domain management, while we22 offers other hosting suppliers a white-label website builder for the creation of high-quality websites.

Divisions, segments and brands (as of: December 31, 2021)

Management

The Management Board of United Internet AG comprised the following members in the fiscal year 2021:

Management Board members as at December 31, 2021

• Ralph Dommermuth, founder and Chief Executive Officer
  (with the Company since 1988)


• Martin Mildner, Chief Financial Officer
  (with the Company since October 1, 2020)

The Supervisory Board of United Internet AG was re-elected in part by the Annual Shareholders' Meeting 2021 and comprised the following members in the fiscal year 2021:

Supervisory Board members as at December 31, 2021

• Philipp von Bismarck, chair
  (member since July 2020; chair since May 2021; member of the Audit and Risk Committee since May 2021)


• Dr. Claudia Borgas-Herold
  (member since May 2020)


• Dr. Manuel Cubero del Castillo-Olivares, deputy chair
  (member since May 2020; deputy chair since May 2021)


• Stefan Rasch
  (member since May 2021; member of the Audit and Risk Committee since May 2021)


• Prof. Dr. Andreas Söffing
  (member since May 2021; chair of the Audit and Risk Committee since May 2021)


• Prof. Dr. Yasmin Mei-Yee Weiß
  (member since July 2020)

Departed in the fiscal year 2021

• Kurt Dobitsch
  (from May 1998 to May 2021)


• Michael Scheeren
  (from May 2002 to March 2021)

Main markets and competitive standing

Germany is the most important sales market of the United Internet Group by far and accounted for around 91% of total global sales in the fiscal year 2021.

Besides Germany, the Group’s most important sales markets are

• the USA,
• the UK,
• Spain,
• France,
• Poland, and
• Austria.

Competitive standing in the Consumer Access segment

Following the merger with Drillisch AG (now 1&1 AG) in 2017, United Internet is the fourth force in Germany’s telecommunications market with landline and mobile products in its purely domestic Consumer Access segment – based on customer contracts, sales revenues and profitability – after Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and Telefónica Germany.

Competitive standing in the Business Access segment

United Internet is also a leading company its Business Access segment, whose operations are also limited to Germany. With the fiber-optic network of 1&1 Versatel spanning over 52,000 km, United Internet operates one of Germany’s largest fiber-optic networks.

Competitive standing in the Consumer Applications segment

In its Consumer Applications segment, United Internet operates in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria via the GMX and WEB.DE brands, as well as in countries such as the USA, UK, France, and Spain via the international brand mail.com. United Internet is the leading provider of e-mail services and one of the leaders in cloud services in its domestic German market – based on the number of users.

Competitive standing in the Business Applications segment

In the globally aligned Business Applications segment, United Internet is active in a total of 17 countries with its hosting and cloud applications. The Company has long been the market leader in the German hosting business – based on the number of managed country domains – and strengthened its position in 2017 with the takeover of its competitor STRATO. In other European countries, United Internet’s hosting applications are now available in all major markets – either locally or from Germany. In addition to the domestic German market, these mainly include the major European economies of France, the UK, Italy, Poland, and Spain. With the exception of Italy, the Company is among the market leaders – measured by the number of managed country domains – in the aforementioned countries. All in all, therefore, United Internet is also one of the leading European suppliers of hosting applications – based on the number of managed country domains. Further target markets outside Europe are the North American countries Canada, USA, and Mexico. In the most important of these markets, the USA, United Internet is also one of the leading players in this segment – based on the number of managed country domains.

From a global perspective, United Internet is thus also one of the leading companies in the hosting business.

Main locations

As of December 31, 2021, the United Internet Group employed a total of 9,975 people at over 30 domestic and foreign facilities.

Main locations (by headcount; > 50 employees)