Preamble

How do you create a business empire of more than 150 companies in numerous countries and with more than 10,000 employees - from nothing?

-by having the courage to risk everything time and again,

-by constantly curbing your own vanity and instead looking for the best ideas, no matter where they have come from,

-by acknowledging that the greatest obstacle to success is success

You can presumably guess that all three character traits are necessary. And a few more elements that will be mentioned in this book.

This is the story of a boy who had promised his mother at the tender age of 5 that he would one day build a factory for stockings and socks for her. Of a teenager who was fascinated by the teachings of the Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and at 19 founded his first company. And the story of a man who has reinvented himself and his companies time and time again - from the classic buy/sell model, which had made him the top company in post-unification eastern Germany, to a leveraged buyout financed by an American hedge fund, which made him market leader in the united Germany.

What then followed was a worldwide expansion, abruptly halted only by the global financial crisis. Shortly afterward, the next venture: A spectacular stock market entry after successfully conquering markets in Turkey, Poland and Germany. Followed by another crisis, this time because of the global debt situation which brought everything down again.

Then came another new start, utilizing very early digitalisation, which baffled the industry and increased shares value tenfold.

And then came the attack of all attacks: a spectacular short-selling movement from the U.S., and the ultimate crisis for outdoor advertising: a pandemic during which no one was allowed out of their house. All of a sudden no one needed outdoor advertising anymore .

This is the story of Udo Müller. Initially not an outstanding student, rather middling, but ultimately someone who achieved the third-best exam grades in the history of his school. A handball professional on the national team. A physician who, despite high grades, dropped out shortly before finishing his doctorate. But most of all: a thoroughbred entrepreneur!

Within three decades he turned the small, local Cologne-based advertising company Ströer into a uniquely diversified media empire. Time and again he failed, and high-flying plans came to nothing. But Müller openly talks about those failures.

Müller's story is also the story of German economics over the past four decades: from the years before the Berlin Wall came down to the pioneer times when Western economics took over the East. When after the Millennium, American turbo-capitalism arrived in Germany and people clamoured to become stock market millionaires. It encompasses the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, which had a dramatic effect on every company. And finally the biggest change of all time: digitisation, forcing practically every company to reinvent itself if it wanted to survive.

Through Udo Müller, we see a prime example of the transition from the Old Economy to the New Economy, as well as the personal and financial risks of an entrepreneur who more than once put everything on one horse, but whose courage and perseverance was always rewarded in the end - sometimes apparently by pure luck alone.

This is a book about extraordinary passion and unconditional engagement, neck-breaking risk-taking, economic failure and, ultimately, economic breakthrough and success.

Berlin, Border Crossing Friedrichstrasse

It is a cold night in January 1988 when Udo Müller leaves his Charlottenburg office carrying two parcels. A few years previously, the Godesberg man and two associates had founded the Berlin advertising agency Lunenburg & Partner.

Müller, who is only 25 years old at this point, has nevertheless already had a remarkable career as a sportsman and serial entrepreneur. Two years after he started to play handball, he featured on the under-18 national team. As a professional, he played in the Bundesliga for Reinickendorfer Füchse, a well-known Berlin club. At the same time and together with his friend Dieter Nerlich, he founded the company Füchse-Werbung, which published the Foxes' official program for every game. He was only 19 then. In the company's first year, the partners made a six-figure profit. Then he did the same for the professional soccer club Blau-Weiss 90. And together with a photographer friend he sold art posters worldwide with the company Artlight Poster Production.

For the two years prior to this cold night, Müller and Nerlich had been partners in their Lunenburg & Partner company. And he knows that if he is successful tonight, he will be heading for even more success. Much more.

It's nearly midnight when Müller gets into his Mercedes and drives to Kochstrasse, close to the Wall. There he changes to the underground line C. This line goes underground through the territory of East Berlin for several kilometres before it carries on towards Tegel in the West. The next stop is Bahnhof Friedrichstrasse, or Friedrich Street station, in the East, directly on the demarcation line. Passengers can get straight back to the West after a few meters as soon as the train doors are closed. This has been an everyday occurrence ever since the city was divided.

The train has only a few passengers on board as it slowly rolls toward the dark East and passes without stopping at the disused stations Stadtmitte and Französische Strasse, to stop a few minutes later than planned in Friedrichstrasse station. Müller gets off, and his eyes follow the departing train. Now he gets slightly nervous. He is alone in the bright light of the platform, far below the surface in the no-man's-land between East and West.

Bahnhof Friedrichstrasse - Berlin's notorious underground station. Since the Wall was built in August 1961 it became the most important transport link in the divided capital. It's here where the S-Bahn (regional trains), the underground system and long-distance trains from East and West cross. The "antifascist protection wall", as the GDR calls the Wall, winds its way about a kilometre from here. Every day, tens of thousands of Berliners cross the Iron Curtain to the "other side" and back again to the free part of the city.

A labyrinth of corridors, barricades and walls ensures that people from the East don't even catch sight of the West. Travellers must pass controls by deliberately unfriendly GDR-border police and officers of the Stasi. Dozens of surveillance cameras cover every square inch. This night, too.

Müller looks at his watch. It's a quarter past midnight. The next train arrives, stops briefly, and moves on. It's the last one tonight. Passengers hurry to the stairs to catch their train to the West. Then Müller is alone again on the platform and waits. The meeting point and the time have been set by his business partners.

Müller has a rendezvous with the class enemy. He wants to get into business with East Germany. He doesn't only want to organise advertising in GDR sport venues, something he and Lunenburg have been doing for a few years in the West. He also wants to do something new, something that has never happened before.

It is something that will gain the attention of the whole industry. And if it works out, many new business opportunities will open for our Müller.

It has been three months since the first contact with the people of the East German agency Interwerbung. One of the top officials had asked Horst Lunenburg for a meeting. Horst, however, thought it was simply a routine visit and let the guest know that he didn't have much time.

The man from East Berlin wasn't too happy about this treatment, but the reason for his visit was too important, and time was at a premium. He quickly came to the point. This time he wasn't talking about the regular advertisements in socialist sports stadiums, but something quite delicate: Western adverts on GDR territory.

Lunenburg didn't grasp the significance and didn't feel inclined to ask any questions. "I'm really in a hurry," he said finally again and grabbed his coat. "You should talk to Udo Müller," he added. "He's our man for special cases."

Half an hour later Müller and the man from the East were sitting in the Grunewald restaurant La Cascina. The conversation was awkward. The guest seemed disappointed because he hadn't been able to talk to Lunenburg himself. He carefully studied the menu and eventually ordered a "large grilled fillet steak" and a glass of "good French red wine". Müller ordered the same.

They chatted about the similarities between their businesses. Interwerbung handled foreign sports adverts mainly via the worldwide Swiss marketing agency Lüthi. For a few years now, Horst Lunenburg had been the local partner for the politically neutral Swiss company, particularly for advertising in the GDR. Müller knew what they were talking about. But generally, this part of the business was dealt with by Lunenburg.

Interwerbung was managed by the GDR Ministry for Foreign Trade. There was also a company called DEWAG, which in the GDR had a monopoly over advertising. It was an official branch of the state party SED, the one and only ruling party.

Finally, the meal arrived. Müller looked at the man opposite him, how...