(new: details)

HAMBURG (dpa-AFX) - A new era is beginning at Hamburg-based mail order giant Otto. After more than five decades in top positions, company patriarch Michael Otto (80) will hand over the strategic leadership of the family business to his son Benjamin (48) in two stages by 2026. This will also involve new appointments at the top of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board, as the Otto Group announced on Monday. "The period has been deliberately chosen to allow for a gradual transition in peace and quiet," the press release states.

Benjamin Otto will therefore take over as Chairman of the Board of Trustees from his father on March 1, 2026. In this role, he will assume the role of Chief Strategist at the Group, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this summer. The Board of Trustees represents the Michael Otto Foundation as the majority shareholder of the Otto Group. "At the same time, he will chair the Shareholders' Council, from which the Group's strategic goals will be formulated and monitored in future." He has already been a member and "Shaping Partner" of the Board of Partners and a member of the Foundation Board since mid-2015.

Benjamin Otto will take on roles as Chairman of the Management Board or Chairman of the Supervisory Board expressly at his own request - unlike his father before him. "My son has great strengths in strategic thinking and has also been involved in all important strategic decisions in recent years," Michael Otto told the German Press Agency. "But he also says quite clearly himself: others can do the operational business better." He is also "practically a digital native", said Otto, who has been programming since he was a teenager. Benjamin Otto had already delivered his journeyman's piece years ago when he launched the Collins Internet trading project. Collins later became the online fashion retailer About You, which is now listed on the stock exchange and is part of the Otto Group.

Digitalization was already an important topic for Michael Otto. He recognized the importance of internationalization and the opportunities of the Internet very early on. When the Internet was opened up to everyone in the 1990s, "we were already on the topic and launched the first Internet projects very early on and were one of the first mail order companies to establish an online store in 1995, even though only 250,000 people in Germany had access to the Internet at the time," he reported. The Otto Group is currently working on making artificial intelligence (AI) usable in various areas of the online and mail order business.

Michael Otto will step down as Chairman of the Supervisory Board on March 1, 2025. His successor in this position will be the current CEO Alexander Birken. He will be succeeded by Petra Scharner-Wolff, the current Head of Finance and Human Resources. Katy Roewer will also join the Management Board and take over Scharner-Wolff's responsibilities.

"One of the biggest challenges for family businesses is the successful generational change," Michael Otto is quoted as saying. "I am very confident that Benjamin will not only lead the Otto Group into a good economic future, but will also keep the special values of our family business alive." Michael Otto, son of company founder Werner Otto, joined the Otto Executive Board in 1971 and became Chairman in 1981, a position he held for 26 years. In 2007, Otto moved to the top of the Supervisory Board.

Otto transferred his majority shareholding in Otto to a charitable foundation in 2014. "It was important to me that the family always has the say and that the headquarters of our company remain in Hamburg and cannot be relocated to some tax haven, for example," is his credo. Otto himself intends to devote more time to his foundation activities after his retirement, it was reported. These include the Michael Otto Environmental Foundation, founded in 1993. Environmental issues and the impending climate collapse of the planet are among the most pressing topics for Otto. "Decisions are being made too slowly, sometimes not at all," he told dpa. This is precisely why it is now time to establish the framework conditions "so that investments can also take place here in Germany."/kf/DP/ngu