Sunrise LLC facts for kids
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| Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung | |||||
| Industry | Telecommunications | ||||
| Predecessor | diAx, UPC Switzerland | ||||
| Founded | 2000 | ||||
| Headquarters |
Opfikon, Switzerland
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Key people
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André Krause (CEO) Michael T. Fries (Chairman of the Board) |
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| Products |
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| Revenue | CHF3.038 billion (2023) | ||||
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Number of employees
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c. 2600 (2023) | ||||
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Sunrise LLC, known simply as Sunrise, is a big company in Switzerland. It provides important services like mobile phones, TV, and internet for homes and businesses. Sunrise's main office is in Opfikon, near Zurich.
Sunrise used to be owned by different companies. In 2015, it became a public company. This means its shares could be bought and sold on the Swiss Stock Exchange. In 2020, a company called Liberty Global bought Sunrise. However, in November 2024, Liberty Global made Sunrise an independent company again. Now, Sunrise runs on its own in the Swiss market.
Contents
How Sunrise Started
The Beginning: diAx and Sunrise Merge
The Sunrise company you know today was formed in 2001. It came from two older companies joining together. These companies were called diAx and the original Sunrise Communications.
diAx started in 1997. It began offering services in December 1998. Parts of diAx were owned by an American company, Swiss energy suppliers, and other Swiss businesses. The original Sunrise was mainly owned by BT Group and a Danish company called Tele Danmark. Some Swiss partners like Migros and the Swiss Federal Railways also had smaller shares.
In 2000, these two companies decided to merge. This helped them avoid paying high fees for special mobile phone licenses called UMTS licenses. After they merged, the new company was named Sunrise. It became a full part of TDC A/S.
A New Look and Motto
In 2006, a company called Nordic Telephone Company bought most of TDC A/S. This was Sunrise's parent company at the time. On October 4, 2007, the company officially changed its name to Sunrise Communications AG. The brand name "Sunrise" was also capitalized.
Sunrise got a new logo with a special font. This was to show its Swiss roots. They also introduced a new motto: "Brave. Vital. Honest. Easy."
Growing with Tele2 Switzerland
On September 29, 2008, Sunrise announced it would buy another company called Tele2 Switzerland. Tele2 had many customers, over 491,000! Tele2 continued as a separate brand for a while. All its employees joined Sunrise. However, by November 1, 2011, the name "Tele2" could no longer be used. So, it was changed to "Tele4U."
Important Changes and Partnerships
A Merger That Didn't Happen
In November 2009, France Télécom and TDC wanted to combine their Swiss companies, Orange Communications and Sunrise. The plan was for France Télécom to own 75% of the new company and TDC to own 25%. If they had merged, the new company would have been very big in the mobile phone market.
However, on April 22, 2010, the Competition Commission (WEKO) stopped the merger. They said it would make the combined company too powerful in the mobile market. This would have made it harder for other companies to compete.
New Owners: CVC Capital Partners
In September 2010, TDC A/S and a company called CVC Capital Partners agreed on a deal. CVC would buy Sunrise for about 3.3 billion Swiss Francs. This deal was approved by Swiss authorities. It was completed on October 28, 2010.
In 2015, Sunrise became a public company. This means its shares could be bought and sold on the stock exchange. Since 2016, a German company called Freenet has been a major shareholder.
The UPC Switzerland Deal
In February 2019, Sunrise planned to buy UPC Switzerland from Liberty Global. This was a very big deal, worth about 6.3 billion Swiss Francs. The Competition Commission approved the takeover.
However, Sunrise's main shareholder, Freenet, wanted to change the deal. In October 2019, it became clear that most Sunrise shareholders would not agree to the plan. So, the special meeting was canceled, and the agreement with Liberty Global was ended. Sunrise officially canceled the deal on November 12, 2019.
Becoming Part of Liberty Global
Even though the first deal didn't happen, Liberty Global still wanted to buy Sunrise. They had tried several times before. In August 2020, Liberty Global announced they would buy Sunrise for $7.4 billion. This time, the deal was completed in November 2020.
Sunrise Becomes Independent Again
In November 2024, Liberty Global completed a process called a "spin-off" for Sunrise. This made Sunrise an independent public company. It now operates on its own in the Swiss telecommunications market. This change allowed Liberty Global shareholders to be directly involved in how Sunrise performs in the future.
