the remaining 74.9% of shares in the fixed-line and fiber-optic network operator Versatel GmbH, or its parent company, would be taken over economically retroactively as of July 1, 2014 by the previous main shareholder, the private equity company KKR. Shortly afterwards, the company was renamed 1&1 Versatel. On July 10, 2015, the acquisition of the Polish web host home.pl for around 135 million euros was announced. On December 15, 2016, United Internet announced its intention to acquire its largest European competitor Strato for around EUR 600 million; the purchase was completed on April 1, 2017. In 2016, 1&1 Internet SE also split into two business divisions: 1&1 Telecommunications SE, which continues to operate the Consumer Access (DSL & Mobile) business, and the internationally active Business Applications division with the current IONOS brand for hosting and cloud service. In 2017, 1&1 Telecommunication SE and the then Drillisch AG merged to form a fourth force in the German telecommunications market - today's 1&1 AG. In addition to 1&1, the brands of 1&1 AG also include the brands of Drillisch Online GmbH (including yourfone, smartmobil.de WinSIM). In 2019, 1&1 AG successfully participated in the 5G frequency auction of the German Federal Network Agency and is now in the construction phase of the first fully virtualized mobile network in Europe based on the new OpenRAN technology. United Internet AG now has around 10,000 employees at more than 30 locations worldwide and posted sales of around EUR 5.6 billion in fiscal year 2021. Founder Ralph Dommermuth holds over 50 percent of the shares in United Internet AG. Subsidiaries United Internet is the parent company of three major webmail providers: GMX Mail and Web.de, which are predominantly European providers, and Mail.com whose users are mainly from the US and the UK. It also owns Ionos, a domain registrar and web hosting provider. Furthermore it owns 1&1 which is running the DSL and mobile network business in Germany. 1&1 Versatel (deWP: 1&1 Versatel) is running the B2B access business and owns a 52,000 kilometer optical fiber network. References External links Companies based in Rhineland-Palatinate Internet service providers of Germany Companies in the TecDAX Companies in the MDAX German companies established in 1988