Corporate Governance
United Internet AG’s Management Board and Supervisory Board consider it their responsibility to ensure the Company’s continued existence, and to 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. Consequently, the Annual General Meeting in May 2021 expanded the Management Board remuneration system for new contracts of service, including ESG criteria in the short-term variable remuneration that forms part of the performance-related remuneration components. This target component is designed to focus Management Board members’ attention on sustainability issues and create an incentive for them to address them. The compensation paid to the Management Board and the Supervisory Board is set out in the Remuneration Report, which is available on the website. Basic information can be found in the Articles of Association (German only).
United Internet’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”), and we publish an annual declaration of compliance with the Code in accordance with section 161 of the AktG.
United Internet’s diversity objective 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 Supervisory Board was elected at the general meeting in fiscal year 2019, and its size expanded to six members. Kurt Dobitsch and Michael Scheeren left the Supervisory Board in 2021. Prof. Andreas Söffing and Stefan Rasch were elected to the Supervisory Board for the first time. The Supervisory Board is currently composed of four men and two 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 to 30% if the Management Board is expanded in future or if new members are appointed. 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.”
See the “Reports” section of the United Internet website.
Our enterprise-wide corporate values, our leadership principles, 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 principles, and Code of Conduct are permanently available on our intranet and to some extent on the internet as well.
See the United Internet website
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. For further information, please see the chapter of the United Internet Group’s annual report entitled “Risk, Opportunity, and Forecast Report.”
See the “Risk, Opportunity, and Forecast Report” in our Annual Report.
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