Gilded farewell: How ex-Zalando co-boss Rubin Ritter skimmed off

In the farewell year, the fashion mail order company Ritter brought in 89 million euros. Also: Warren Buffett helps HP shine again and at the same time receives a broadside from Peter Thiel.

Good Morning! While you slept, work continued elsewhere in the digital scene.

The top topics:

The former Zalando co-boss Rubin Ritter received 89 million euros as a farewell. The fashion mail-order business listed in the Dax “goldened” him last year. Rubin Ritter has not been with the company since June. He first announced his departure in December 2020. At the time, Ritter said he wanted to take more care of his family. From now on, his wife’s career should have priority. Gründerszene already reported last year how he was building a future as an investor in the background.

The Zalando annual report now showed Ritter’s generous remuneration in his last year of work. The lion’s share of the 89 million euros was attributable to stock options that Ritter received in 2011, 2013 and 2014, in part before the Zalando IPO in 2014. Ritter still exercised some of the options worth 42.5 million euros before he left Zalando, he later earned a further 46.6 million from it. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt]

on Founder scene: Flixbus is one of the best-known companies in the German tech industry. The Founders Daniel Krauss, André Schwämmlein and Jochen Engert have also become rich themselves with the bus company. With their money, the people of Munich have financed an amazing portfolio of startups over the years. Your strategy is simple. [Mehr bei Gründerszene+]

And here are the other headlines of the night:

the HPstock had just seen its best day in more than two years, and Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway has become almost 650 million dollars richer as a result. After Berkshire announced its ownership of 121 million shares in the PC and printer manufacturer on Wednesday, identifying itself as HP’s largest shareholder, the stock exploded. HP’s shares rose 15 percent Thursday, taking the value of Berkshire’s stake to $4.85 billion from $4.2 billion. [Mehr bei CNBC und Reuters]

Cryptocurrencies: Although the HP message shows the importance Warren Buffett still has in the financial scene, the German-born US investor Peter Thiel allowed himself a broadside against the 91-year-old. For example, Thiel said at a Bitcoin conference on Thursday that Warren Buffett is one of the crypto movement’s biggest opponents: “Enemy number one,” Thiel told a booing crowd in Miami, is “the sociopathic grandpa from Omaha.” Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is located in Omaha. Thiel also named JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and Blackrock CEO Larry Fink as opponents of digital currencies. [Mehr bei Bloomberg und CNBC]

eToro has unveiled a $20 million fund to buy NFTs and support producers. The trading platform announced the launch Thursday at The Bass, a contemporary art museum in Miami. The trading platform’s fund is part of a new initiative called eToro.art that aims to support NFT creators and brands. NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are digital assets that represent real-world objects — like art, music, real estate, and more — and cannot be replicated. [Mehr bei CNBC]

JD.com-Founder Richard Liu has resigned as CEO of the Chinese e-commerce company. Xu Lei, President of JD.com, will assume the CEO position effective immediately and join the company’s Board of Directors. It is JD.com’s second management change in the past seven months. In September, Xu Lei was appointed president after stepping down as head of JD.com’s retail operations. Liu has kept a low profile on JD.com in recent years since he was accused of rape in 2018, an allegation he has denied. [Mehr bei Bloomberg und CNBC]

Bolta US company that provides checkout software, announced on Thursday that it has launched the startup Wyre will buy up. With the acquisition, Bolt aims to enable its customers to make crypto payments via its checkout technology in the future. Bolt is set to pay $1.5 billion for the firm, which offers blockchain software that allows traders to accept cryptocurrency in the form of a cash and stock deal. The deal, which is expected to close in the third or fourth quarter of this year, comes five months after Bolt acquired Swedish company Tipser. [Mehr bei The Information]

Our reading tip on Gründerszene: Serial investor and Amorelie founder Lea-Sophie Cramer has seen many pitch decks in her life. Cramer is one of the most active business angels in Germany. In the Gründerszene interview, she reveals her Top tips for the pitch deck. [Mehr bei Gründerszene]

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Happy Friday!

Your Gründerszene editors