Investing money and having a say

In 2018 we integrated the digital marketer Goldbach Group into Tamedia AG in order to secure the careers of our management, the security of our employees and the provision of services to our customers in the long-term. The shareholders also benefited from attractive dividends over the years and the price of CHF 218 million. Win/win/win.

As president, I integrated the ETH spin-off SVOX into Nuance Communications in 2011. The managers and the Zurich location were secured. When the company was founded in 2000, we as shareholders agreed to accept a sensible takeover bid of more than CHF 100 million. In just a few years, SVOX had become the global market leader in text-to-speech with 38 different languages.

Currently, I am mainly involved with the globally-active service company SoftwareOne, based in Stans. In 15 years, it has grown from a local supplier to a global market-leader with 6,000 employees in 88 countries.

Furthermore, I am an active venture capitalist with the two American IT companies Sixsentix and Airsage.

 

The birth of a world market leader from Stans

Through its recent merger with Comparex, SoftwareOne is active in 120 countries and employs 6,000 people. With a turnover of 7 billion dollars per year, the company is the world’s most important provider of software portfolios for large corporations and cloud enablers. From its headquarters in Stans (Canton Nidwalden), the privately held company manages the software portfolio and cloud solutions of leading companies throughout the world. Since its founding in 2004, I have been one of the four equal partner shareholders and Vice President.

Nothing new emerges without taking risks

I wouldn’t describe myself as overly creative, but I do have a keen sense for innovative projects and especially creative people. I am happy to bring together people and ideas with my inspiration. In my career I have co-founded and co-developed around 50 companies, and with a few exceptions, they all continue to flourish. Overall, through my activities about 20,000 jobs have been created.