Telekom CEO Timotheus Höttges has called for a debate on the return of 'Deutschland AG' following a five-day Asia trip with the chancellor, according to a Handelsblatt Morning Briefing report citing a LinkedIn post. Höttges said the trip had taken him technologically into the future but emotionally rather into the past, the report said.
Höttges expressed surprise that anyone beyond a few retirees still longs for the interconnections through which a few dozen gentlemen ran the German corporate world until the turn of the millennium. But the report says his reasoning is not unconvincing: what sounds like a mix of a Sunday speech and a cartel agreement has a serious background.
According to the report, states that lead in future technologies practice such models. During the Asia trip, the chancellor's delegation visited South Korea, where the state has specifically favored conglomerates and cooperation since the 1960s, including in chips and batteries.
The report adds that a return would not be desirable as an opaque gentlemen's round in which compliance officers and women would at most be a nuisance. Instead, it says, the idea should be understood as a shared idea of progress.
Sources: Handelsblatt. Handelsblatt.