Norbert Stangl, founder and chairman of the supervisory board of
ClickandBuy, sells his shares in FIRSTGATE Holding AG
London/Zug, 28 August 2009 - Norbert Stangl, founder and formerly
majority shareholder of the ClickandBuy group, has sold his stake in
the parent company, FIRSTGATE Holding AG, Zug, to his co-shareholders
T-Online Venture Fund, Intel Capital, and two Swiss family offices.
Confidentiality regarding the acquisition price was agreed. The new
Chairman of the Supervisory Board is Dr. Peter-Paul Stengel, who has
actively supported the company at supervisory board level since its
establishment.
Stangl, who founded ClickandBuy at the end of 1999 and within eight
years made the company a leading European internet payment service,
is happy about things: "ClickandBuy is the only payment service, next
to PayPal, to manage to play a leading role in the internet payment
market at international level."
Stangl adds: "Over the last few years, ClickandBuy has developed into
a well-established company: With a transaction volume of over one
billion euros, 12,000,000 end customers, and more than 14,000
merchants, ClickandBuy has acquired a sound position in the internet.
These are merely some of the many reasons why renowned sellers such
as iTunes, Musicload, Redcoon, AOL, Autoscout 24, and Electronic Arts
(EA) etc. place their trust in the service expertise and wide
experience of ClickandBuy. But speaking for myself, after 10 years on
board, it's time for me to do something new. With Charles Fraenkl,
Group CEO of ClickandBuy at the helm and flanked by financially
powerful investors, the company's future is in good hands."
The new and previous shareholders wish to push the development of
ClickandBuy along and, to this end, seek strategic cooperations with
renowned international e-commerce companies. Patrick Meisberger, Fund
Manager T-Online Venture Fund, comments: "ClickandBuy has enormous
potential. We are convinced of our growth prospects. ClickandBuy is
the clear alternative to PayPal, and with customers such as Apple
iTunes or McAfee, we are very soundly positioned."
Norbert Stangl, internet pioneer and serial entrepreneur, having
already established Strato AG in Berlin, has written internet history
for a second time with ClickandBuy. Stangl's new project is also
likely to be very successful: Via the platform
www.MarmaladeTunes.com, Stangl offers internet surfers the
possibility of automatically recording thousands of music titles
played on what are meanwhile more than 20,000 internet radios and, as
MP3s, transfer these titles to the PC or mobile media players. This
is legal, says Stangl, as opposed to file sharing networks.
MarmaladeTunes costs ¤2.99 per month and, how else could it be, is
paid for via ClickandBuy exclusively throughout Europe.
About ClickandBuy
ClickandBuy is one of the leading payment services in the internet.
The international full-service e-payment and billing provider has had
its most successful year in its company history. Having doubled sales
with dealers and end customers (= total transaction volume) to
¤922 million in 2008, the ClickandBuy Group seeks to achieve similar
growth in 2009. Over 14,000 providers use ClickandBuy for their
e-commerce, retail, online entertainment, and paid content billing,
including Apple iTunes, Electronic Arts (EA), T-Online Gamesload,
Softwareload und Musicload, Medion, AOL, Telefónica, Orange, Tiscali,
Redcoon, Home of Hardware, Nero, SanDisk, Meetic, Parship,
AutoScout24, ADAC, RTL, MTV, Playboy, and Foto.com, etc. Online shops
can benefit considerably by using ClickandBuy, increasing their sales
by 150%, according to the latest survey conducted by
E-Commerce-Center Handel in Cologne (ECC). The internet payment
service founded by Norbert Stangl in 1999 is operated by ClickandBuy
International Ltd. As an e-money institution licensed by the UK's
Financial Services Authority (FSA), ClickandBuy offers its customers
47 national and international modes of payment throughout 30
countries.
ClickandBuy - Media Contacts
Andreas Horst * Director Corporate Communications * ClickandBuy
International Ltd. * Lincoln House 137 / 143 Hammersmith Road *
London * W14 0QL * Phone: +44 (0) 20 7605 06 84 *
E-mail: andreas.horst@clickandbuy.com * www.clickandbuy.com
This announcement was originally distributed by Hugin. The issuer is
solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
