A generational change is imminent at the Hamburg mail order giant Otto in the next two years. The company patriarch Michael Otto (80) wants to hand over leadership in two steps by 2026. This is intended to ensure a smooth transition at the top of the family business. Otto’s son Benjamin (48) will take over the chairmanship of the board of trustees on March 1, 2026, as the Otto Group announced on Monday. The board of trustees represents the Michael Otto Foundation as the majority owner of the Otto Group. “At the same time, he will take over the chairmanship of the shareholders’ council, from which the strategic goals of the group of companies will be formulated and controlled in the future,” it said.
A year earlier, the previous CEO Alexander Birken moved to the position of chairman of the supervisory board instead of Michael Otto. Birken’s successor on the Otto board will be Petra Scharner-Wolff, the previous finance and human resources manager. At the same time, Katy Roewer joins the board and takes over Scharner-Wolff’s responsibilities.
This marks the end of a decades-long era at Otto. “The period was deliberately chosen to enable a gradual transition in peace and quiet,” the statement said. “One of the biggest challenges for family businesses is 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.”
Otto contributed his majority stake in Otto to a charitable foundation in 2014. “It was important to me that the family always had the say and that the headquarters of our company remained in Hamburg and could not, for example, be relocated to any tax haven,” he emphasizes. According to the information, Otto himself wants to devote more time to his foundation activities after his retirement. This includes the Michael Otto Environmental Foundation, founded in 1993.