Even last summer, it was considered impossible in the metro environment for Real to go to X-Bricks because the company had exclusively tied itself to Kaufland as the operator of the stores. Only the softening of this clause made a sale possible under antitrust law. Koch had always insisted internally to avoid a public argument like the break up of Kaiser's-Tengelmann.

At that time Edeka had initially wanted to take over all markets, but had been stopped by the cartel office. The then Economics Minister Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) intervened with a ministerial permit, which the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court overturned. In the end, Rewe and Edeka had to split up the Kaiser's locations.

Daniel Kretinsky as an internal opponent

One who should be particularly disappointed with the outcome of Real Poker is Daniel Kretinsky . The Czech billionaire was, alongside Real, the main reason for Olaf Koch's busy year. Because last summer he had prepared to take over the majority at Metro. Kretinsky had offered the shareholders 16 euros per ordinary share. Koch found far too little - and the majority of the shareholders followed his view. In the end, the Czech failed because of the self-set goal of getting 67.5 percent of the shares.

Nevertheless, he is a major shareholder through his holding company EP Global Commerce with 29.99 percent. And he showed through that he really wants to get actively involved in the company. A representative of Kretinsky will presumably fill a seat on the supervisory board of the M-Dax group from today's general meeting. From his environment it is said that he, too, is looking forward to it, as Koch explains, that Real will now bring in 600 million euros less than announced. Even if both publicly emphasize their mutual appreciation, you get the impression that Koch is a powerful internal opponent .

But Koch is not only likely to upset the shareholders with the real sale . Because the takeover will not work without layoffs. A number of locations without convincing economic prospects are threatened with closure, as Koch admitted to the employees in his letter. However, X-Bricks assume "that the number of locations to be closed will be less than 30", continues Koch. Where there will be redundancies, a company agreement concluded at the end of last year should alleviate social hardship with severance payments of a maximum of twelve to 14 monthly salaries.

The Verdi union has other demands on Koch. "It is about securing by works councils and that there is no outsourcing to independent merchants," the union told the Tagesspiegel. The situation at Real is very difficult due to years of management mistakes and failure to invest. That is why Verdi takes politics seriously. "It is all the more important that politics also fulfills its obligation to achieve a secure future for 34,000 real employees and their families."

Just how stressful the tough Real negotiations were for Metro can also be seen in the quarterly figures presented on Thursday. Metro's revenue increased slightly to EUR 7.6 billion in the first quarter, but its profit declined slightly on a like-for-like basis.