Corporate Governance
United Internet AG’s Management Board and Supervisory Board consider it their responsibility to ensure the Company’s continued existence and create sustainable value by managing it responsibly and for the long term. For United Internet, running a business involves more than pursuing economic goals – the Company also sees itself as having an obligation to society, the environment, employees, and other stakeholders.
The Company’s corporate governance activities are based on the German Stock Corporation Act (“Aktiengesetz” – AktG) and on the requirements of the German Corporate Governance Code (the “Code”). We publish an annual declaration of compliance with the Code in accordance with section 161 of the AktG.
United Internet’s objective from a diversity perspective is for the Management Board and Supervisory Board to include a wide variety of different people and, as a whole, to have a sufficient breadth of opinion and knowledge. Among other things, this requires the members of the individual bodies to complement each other with respect to their experience and their educational and professional backgrounds, so as to have a good understanding both of the Company’s current business activities and of its longer-term opportunities and risks.
See the Corporate Governance section of the United Internet website.
The general meeting that resolved to approve the actions of the Supervisory Board for fiscal year 2019 also held elections for the Supervisory Board and expanded its size to six members. The Company’s aim with this measure is to diversify its composition. Since then, the Supervisory Board has had six members, two of whom are women. This means that United Internet meets the statutory 30% target quota for female Supervisory Board members. The Company’s Management Board consists of two members and is currently composed exclusively of men. However, the aim is to increase the proportion of women if the Management Board is expanded in future or if new members are appointed. The basic principle is that both genders should be treated equally on the basis of their qualifications.
For further information, please see the chapter of the United Internet Group’s annual report entitled “Declaration on Company Management/Corporate Governance Report.” The compensation paid to the Management Board and the Supervisory Board is set out in the Remuneration Report, which also forms part of the Annual Report (AR). Basic information can be found in the Articles of Association (German only).
See the “Reports” section of the United Internet website.
Our enterprise-wide corporate values, our management guidelines, and our Code of Conduct are at the heart of what we do every day. All employees are made aware of these basic documents when they join the Company, and must abide by them. Our values and guidelines, and the Code of Conduct, are permanently available on our intranet and, in some cases, the internet as well.
The United Internet Group’s risk and opportunities management policy aims to preserve and enhance the organization’s values by exploiting opportunities and identifying and managing risks at an early stage. By walking the talk in this way, we ensure that United Internet AG can do business in a controlled organizational environment. Our policy sets out a responsible approach to dealing with the uncertainties that are an inevitable part of doing business. This also covers dealing with environmental risks.
See the “Risk, Opportunity, and Forecast Report” in our Annual Report.
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