MeteoNews AG is in April 1997 from Peter Wick was founded. In 2014, the media entrepreneur sold the successful Swiss weather service to the Austrian company Ubimet, an international weather service provider.
On Wednesday, the departure of founder Peter Wick, who will head MeteoNews AG as CEO until the end of the year, was announced.
The Klein Report has a board chairman and a lawyer Jascha Schneider-Marfels asks how the popular weather moderator’s departure came about and what this drastic change means for the company.
Peter Wick has been CEO of the company since the weather service was sold six years ago. A rather unusually long time after a company was sold. According to research by the Klein Report, he terminated the contract in the middle of the year. Why have the entrepreneur and the Austrian company Ubimet not been able to agree on a future commitment?
Jascha Schneider-Marfels: «The ideas of what a future engagement might look like were too different. Peter would have loved to buy the company back. On the other hand, MeteoNews and Ubimet have grown together in terms of structures, data and products in such a way that unbundling would no longer make business sense. MeteoNews has benefited for years from being able to use the potential and know-how of Ubimet. “
Now it has rather “rattled” a bit. But could it still be that Ubimet and Peter Wick will come together again in a different entrepreneurial form?
Schneider-Marfels: «It didn’t rattle. Ubimet has always communicated its entry very cautiously and has given the company a lot of entrepreneurial freedom. Therefore, outsiders hardly noticed the new owner and are now surprised. Six years after the sale, a former company founder is allowed to leave the company. What the future will bring remains to be seen. “
What is Ubimet’s strategy for MeteoNews AG for 2021 and beyond?
Schneider-Marfels: “We are leaders in media weather in Switzerland and have invested specifically in other areas with the weather cockpit in recent years, such as insurance, airports and transport companies. In this way we have opened up new business areas in order to be less dependent on the media industry. This strategy will be consistently pursued. “
What is the current ownership structure of Ubimet?
Jascha Schneider-Marfels: «The brilliant minds behind Ubimet are Michael Fassnauer and Manfred Spatzierer. You turned a start-up into a major player in the weather business. They have always remained true to their roots. The Viennese charm and the innovation of the two is a great enrichment for our Swiss company. “
A branch for French-speaking Switzerland has existed since 1999. MeteoNews has also been active in France since 2003. Are there likely to be changes here?
Schneider-Marfels: «No. As I said, we are sticking to the existing strategy, which the Board of Directors will review on a regular basis. “
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