Harsh words from a real German self-made billionaire: Ralph Dommermuth, founder, boss and majority shareholder of the billion dollar empire United Internet from Montabaur, warns of the decline of the German economy.

“No empire lasts forever – that applies to both companies and nations,” said billionaire Ralph Dommermuth in an interview with the Berlin news magazine FOCUS. “I fear that Germany will be passed backwards over the next few years and decades.”

Dommermuth’s conclusion: The Federal Republic is “mainly concerned with maintaining the status quo”. However, it also applies to an economy, “that attack is the best defense. We should talk about opportunities and growth more often,” says the Internet entrepreneur, who prefers not to try it on talk shows.

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In such media arenas, managers and entrepreneurs like him “are likely to play the role of the evil capitalist, and then there’s a shitstorm. As a result, business is losing its voice, profile and influence.”

The 58-year-old from Montabaur prefers to take care of the expansion of his empire, which includes well-known names such as 1

Dommermuth is currently preparing to build a fourth nationwide 5G network alongside the trio of corporate giants Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica and Vodafone. There are also setbacks. He actually wanted to set up a thousand antenna masts by the end of the year. This is now delayed because the main supplier does not make it on time.

“Now we see that it could take a year or two longer,” says Dommermuth. The construction of a new network is “a major task and there will always be delays. Unfortunately, that’s how it is with projects of this magnitude.”

The price of United Internet shares has slipped accordingly. He recently spoke about this with one of his major investors. Dommermuth was also clear there: “The course is just shit.” But he himself is completely optimistic. After all, he even bought back more shares last year. For 600 million euros.