The story
Company history
Zooplus AG was founded on June 28, 1999, by Roland Honekamp, Cornelius Patt, Sven Rittau, Florian Seubert, and Philipp Freiherr von Wilmowsky. Hubert Burda Media media group supported the foundation financially and was the largest shareholder of Zooplus for many years. The company was established to offer pet supplies in the growing online retail market of the late 1990s. This was followed by several funding rounds in the double-digit million Deutschmarks range, although the dot-com bubble in 2000 made it increasingly difficult to find investors.
By 2002, the company’s customer base had grown to 160,000, with an order volume of €13 million, a 40% increase compared to the previous year. In 2007, the company employed 40 people.
In addition to its IPO in May 2008, the same year saw the relocation of the company’s registered office from Unterföhring to nearby Munich. As of December 31, 2008, the company employed 79 people and generated revenues of €80.34 million. By December 31, 2009, the number of employees had increased to 108. In the same period, revenue rose by more than 60% to €127.71 million.
In 2012, Zooplus became the second-largest pet food retailer in Germany after Fressnapf with a market share of around 10%, although Zooplus generates higher online sales than Fressnapf (as of 2024). In the 2010s, Zooplus increasingly expanded outside Germany.
Sales for the first half of 2015 were €344 million, up 34% compared with the first half of 2014. The company expected 2015 sales to total at least €725 million.
In fall 2018, Amazon started to sell pet food in Europe under its own brands. Despite the new competitor from the US, Zooplus realised €1.342 million of total sales in 2018, a growth of 21% compared to the previous year.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in the early 2020s, Zooplus benefited from increased demand in online retail, as many physical stores remained closed and customers avoided them due to fear of infection. In the first half of 2020, the company generated a profit of around €7.8 million. In addition, the number of pet owners increased during the pandemic, which had a generally positive impact on the pet food retail sector according to Stuttgarter Zeitung. In February 2021, the company decided to remove pet accessories considered problematic from an animal welfare perspective from its online platforms in all countries.
On August 13, 2021, Zorro Bidco S.à r.l. and Zooplus AG signed an investor agreement for a strategic partnership. The goal of this partnership was to strengthen Zooplus's market position as an online platform for pet supplies in Europe. The company Zorro Bidco is controlled by funds advised by Hellman & Friedman LLC. At the same time, Zorro Bidco made a voluntary takeover offer of €390 per share. The stock price subsequently rose by over 40% to €392.80. This triggered a takeover battle among several companies for Zooplus, against the backdrop of a growing pet food market at the time, with the highest bid reaching €470 per share (~€3.36 billion). In early October 2021, Pet Bidco (indirectly held by EQT Private Equity) outbid the offer, prompting Hellman & Friedman to follow suit. Eventually, both bidders joined forces and offered €480 per share. More than 50% of the shares were acquired. In the context of the takeover, Zooplus entered into a long-term strategic agreement with Hellman & Friedman.
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Following company founder Cornelius Patt, who was the CEO from 2006 to 2022, Geoffroy Lefebvre joined zooplus in this role in November 2022. Subsequently, a broader product range, a loyalty program, an updated app, and a new subscription model were introduced. At the end of November 2024, Lefebvre left the company. Lionel Desclée became the new CEO of zooplus SE on September 15, 2025.[1]
Stock Market History
The company's shares were listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on May 9, 2008, in the Entry Standard segment without issuing new shares and were later included in the Entry Standard Index. On October 22, 2009, the company switched to the Prime Standard. In 2011, Burda Media increased its stake in Zooplus to 50.04%, thereby becoming the majority shareholder. Starting in 2015, Burda gradually sold off its shares in the company.
According to Cornelius Welp in Die Welt, Zooplus shares developed "steadily but inconspicuously" for a long time, before experiencing an “unprecedented surge” during the boom in online retail prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Zooplus was listed in the SDAX for many years and, starting on September 20, 2021, in the MDAX.
Following the company's acquisition, the stock was removed from the MDAX on December 20, 2021 (delisting). In December 2021, the new company owners made a delisting offer to the remaining shareholders, which was accepted by all of them. Since January 2022, the stock is no longer publicly traded.
From Wikipedia’s article on Zooplus, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5