MANNESMANN

'Mannesmann AG' was a German corporation with headquarters in Düsseldorf. The company was founded in 1890 originally to produce steel tubes. It was traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. (Ticker symbol is MMN.) The company had approximatively 31,000 employees and revenues (1999) of 23.27 billion Euros.

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Mannesmann Arcor

D2 Mannesmann

Acquisition by Vodafone

Rebranding to Vodafone

External links

Mannesmann Arcor

Mannesmann Arcor was Germany's second largest fixed line telephony and internet company. It was 72% owned by Mannesmann.

D2 Mannesmann

Mannesmann operated Germany's second cellular network carrier known as '''D2''' ''Mannesmann''. This was the main competitor to Germany's incumbent carrier, Deutsche Telekom's 'T-Mobile', also known as ''D1''.

Acquisition by Vodafone

Mannesmann was acquired by Vodafone Group Plc. in 2000. This was a controversial takeover as never before in Germany had a large company been acquired by a foreign owner. This was a hostile takeover but the merger was backed in a private deal between Mannesmann management and Vodafone.
Under the terms of the deal Mannesmann sought assurances from Vodafone that the ''Mannesmann'' brand and name would be kept under the new owners. This was agreed and the deal was announced. However not long after this, Vodafone went back on the deal and rebranded.

Rebranding to Vodafone

The name Mannesman ceased to exist soon after the deal with Vodafone. As a result:
:''Mannesmann'' Arcor became 'Arcor'
:'D2' ''Mannesmann'' became ''D2 Vodafone'' and subsequently 'Vodafone D2'

External links

★ Official site

★ Company info at answers.com