The number of employees at Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof (GKK) has halved since 2014: only around 17,000 commercial employees work for the German department store group, which had to file for bankruptcy for the second time in three years at the end of October and had to apply for a protective shield procedure. While employees of the department store juggler René Benko feared for their jobs, managers celebrated a party in Tyrol.
According to a “Handelsblatt” report from this week, only “about every third” of the 130 Galeria branches still in existence “receive a guarantee of continued existence.” In addition, it is said that “only 22 of the properties rented by Galeria” are companies owned by Signa “belong”. The Signa Group, which was founded by Benko, did not want to comment on this when asked. Rushing party in a noble Tyrolean hotel, while many of the approximately 17,000 GKK employees feared for their jobs around Christmas and then in a highly uncertain new year started, department store juggler Benko seemed to be in a party mood. At least before Christmas Eve. The Tyrolean’s Signa group then gave a lavish party in the classy Hotel Interalpen in Telfs, to which numerous executives from the group were invited. The highlight of the party was likely to be the performance by the band and disco formation Boney M. , “Rivers of Babylon”, “Ma Baker”), which can refer to more than 150 million records sold worldwide. Allegedly, the show act even outshone Benko’s incendiary speech. But that’s probably just a bad rumor.
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