CEO of MediaMarkt: Karsten Wildberger is Germany's first digital minister

The designated federal ministers have now also been announced. Karsten Wildberger, CEO of the electronics retail chain MediaMarktSaturn, will head the newly created Digital Ministry.

In the run-up to the appointment, there was constant talk of a female digital minister. Numerous exciting and qualified women were under consideration – but now Friedrich Merz has awarded the position to a man: Karsten Wildberger will be the first Federal Digital Minister, as reported by "Bild."

Until recently, Wildberger was CEO of the MediaMarkt/Saturn Group. Previously, the 56-year-old held management positions at other corporations, including T-Mobile, Vodafone, and EON. He was also a member of the EON board, where he headed sales, the growth area of ​​"decentralized energy infrastructure," energy procurement, electromobility, marketing, digital transformation, and IT.

Wildberger studied physics at the Technical University of Munich and RWTH Aachen University in the early 1990s. He then earned an MBA at INSEAD and began his career as a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group.

Germany's first digital ministry should focus on administrative digitization and modernization. This was written by Fedor Rose (SPD), head of the State Chancellery of Rhineland-Palatinate , who was apparently involved in the coalition negotiations on the topic of digital. In recent weeks, Rose has discussed what needs to be done in terms of digitization with Judith Gerlach (CSU), Bavaria's Minister of Health and former State Minister for Digital Affairs in the Free State, among others. The focus of Wildberger and his team's tasks is "establishing technological sovereignty with a European focus. This must be anchored in all projects and instruments." Furthermore, administrative structures are to be streamlined.

In recent weeks, many different names of people allegedly considered for the position have been circulating. Surprisingly, all of them were women. Verena Pausder, for example, was nominated virtually from within the startup scene. Christian Miele, CEO of the VC Headline, wrote a glowing LinkedIn post describing the current CEO of the startup association as the "best choice" for the position. Investors like Carsten Maschmeyer and other industry figures agreed in the comments.

In an interview with Gründerszene , Pausder clarified the debate surrounding her. Miele's post was not prearranged, she said. "Anyone who knows Christian knows: He wears his heart on his sleeve. I'm honored by his post, but appointments to positions aren't made on LinkedIn." The position of Digital Minister didn't seem to appeal to her: "Politics is a brutal job. I have a wonderful family with four children, and I'm concerned about how little family time and private life are possible in the political arena, and how challenging it is for people and their families to survive the public storm. Many politicians rely on personal protection. The devaluation, the constant scrutiny, the malice, the hatred – all of this is constantly increasing."

Other women who were whispered about included computer science professor and AI expert Verena Wolf, former Bavarian Minister for Digital Affairs Judith Gerlach, former board member of the publishing house Gruner und Jahr, Julia Jäkel, and Kristina Sinemus, entrepreneur and Minister for Digitalization and Innovation in Hesse since January 2019.

Most parties and the public have long agreed that digital technology is so relevant in our day and age that it requires its own minister. According to a Bitkom survey, 71 percent of Germans called for the creation of a separate digital ministry.

Verena Pausder, chairwoman of the German Startup Association, has been calling for such a ministry since the beginning of her term in office. "Startups must be a top priority," she said before the election. She considers the establishment of a digital ministry "absolutely necessary," Pausder said in an interview with Gründerszene . "The ministry should focus exclusively on digitizing and modernizing the administration – and prioritize speed and user-friendliness."

The CDU/CSU parliamentary group's support for the creation of such a ministry became public in December 2024. Secretary General Carsten Linnemann openly stated that Merz and the CDU wanted such a ministry, in which all competencies related to digitalization would be bundled.

Not only the associated costs were a factor against creating such a new ministry; critics also noted that digitalization is a cross-cutting issue that should actually play a role in all ministries. Bringing all of these together will be Wildberger's task in the future.