Jürgen Weber, the former Lufthansa chairman, has been elected as the new chairman of theDeutsche Post supervisory board. He succeeds Josef Hattig, 74, who chaired the supervisory board
for ten years following the formation of Deutsche Post AG.A member of Deutsche Post’s Supervisory Board since 2003, Weber was Lufthansa chairman from 1991to 2003. In this capacity, he initiated a process of structural and strategic realignment of theLufthansa Group, preparing the ground for its complete privatization.
“Jürgen Weber brings tremendous experience and ability to his new role as Chairman of theDeutsche Post Supervisory Board. This includes extensive international experience, insight into thestructures of a former state-owned company, management skills of the highest quality and knowledgeof our Company thanks to the time he has already spent as a member of our Supervisory Board,” saidKlaus Zumwinkel, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Post AG. “I am confident that theconstructive and fruitful cooperation between the Management Board and the Supervisory Board willcontinue under his leadership and that together we will lead Deutsche Post World Net into asuccessful future.”
Weber thanked his predecessor, Josef Hattig, for successfully leading the Supervisory Board in aperiod that saw the transformation of Deutsche Post from a domestic postal service into a globallogistics group. “Mr. Hattig has outstanding business instincts. He effectively combined thechallenges of chairing the Supervisory Board during a period in which many key business decisionswere made while ensuring that the company lived up to the highest standards of corporate governanceat all times. The constructive collaboration with Mr. Hattig played a crucial part in many of thecompany’s achievements in the past ten years, such as the acquisitions of Postbank, DHL and Exel aswell as the initial public offerings of Deutsche Post and Postbank,” emphasized Zumwinkel.
At Deutsche Post AG’s Annual General Meeting in Cologne on May 10, around 4,000 shareholdersapproved the resolutions proposed by the Board of Management and Supervisory Board by a largemajority. Shareholders representing around 99.98 percent of the company’s equity capital resolved,amongst other issues, to pay a dividend of 70 euro cents per share, which is 40 percent higher thanlast year. The dividend is tax-free for shareholders resident in Germany.
The Board of Management was also authorized to buy back own shares totaling as much as 10percent of the existing share capital.
