Metro AG is a German multinational company based in Düsseldorf which operates business membership-only cash and carry stores primarily under the Metro brand.[4] As of September 2025, Metro is operating 622 wholesale stores in 21 countries.[5]
The company was established in 1964 by Ernst Schmidt and Wilhelm Schmidt-Ruthenbeck. In 2010, it was the fourth-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues, after Walmart, Carrefour and Tesco.[6] Until 2020, it was also active in the general retail business through the Real division, which was sold to an investor consortium. Its current incarnation was launched in 2017 as a spun-off of old Metro AG, which continued to be a consumer electronics retailer and renamed itself Ceconomy.
History
1963 – 1980
Metro began on 8 November 1963 in Essen with the opening of the first wholesale centre under the name Metro by the brothers Ernst Schmidt and Wilhelm Schmidt-Ruthenbeck. Planning and opening of the first hypermarket under the name Metro in Essen was the responsibility of Walter Vieth, who was managing director there from 1963 to 1970.[7][8]
In 1964, a year after the opening of the first Metro store, the Stöcker & Reinshagen company (the Schell family) planned a cash and carry store in Mülheim an der Ruhr. During construction, the businessmens Schmidt-Ruthenbeck, Schmidt and Schell met and decided to merge their cash and carry activities. So they founded Metro-SB-Großmarkt GmbH & Co. KG with headquarters in Mülheim, later in Düsseldorf. Otto Beisheim, until 1964 authorised signatory of the company Stöcker & Reinshagen, became the sole managing director. In 1966, the third Metro was opened in West Berlin.[8]
In 1966, Otto Beisheim met Friedrich Wilhelm Lenz, chairman of the management board of Franz Haniel & Cie.
Controversies
Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine which began on 24 February, many international, particularly Western companies pulled out of Russia. Unlike most of its Western competitors, Metro AG announced its intention to keep its business in Russia open, drawing criticism.[37][38][39][40] Ukrainian government officials have called for a global boycott of the company.[41] The Ukrainian office of MetroAG has allegedly been threatened by the company's headquarters in Germany due to the Ukrainian branch openly calling for sanctions on Metro's Russian branch. According to Ukrainian ex-minister Dmytro Dubilet the Ukrainian branch has received warnings to be disconnected from the centralized supply.[42]
Metro name
In 2012, in the face of an impending brand conflict, Microsoft renamed its Metro user interface of the Microsoft Windows 8 computer operating system (to Microsoft Design Language, or MDL).[67]
See also
- EuroCommerce
External links
References
- Metro AG Management Board retrieved June 29, 2021^
- Kretinsky-Mann ist neuer Chef des Metro-Aufsichtsrats Lebensmittel Zeitung, 2025-02-19, retrieved 2025-06-12^
- Annual Report 2024/25