“For us, AI represents a great opportunity”

Author: Hans-Peter Siebenhaar

Convenience translation. Original article published in German in FOCUS MONEY 14/2026. Find the German original here.

CEO Oliver Steil and Supervisory Board Chairman Ralf W. Dieter aim to transform remote support specialist Teamviewer into the world’s leading provider of digital workplace solutions. The acquisition of software company 1E and investments in AI are intended to pull the company out of its slump.

Q: There is hardly a PC user who is not familiar with TeamViewer’s remote support. Where do you want your software company to develop in the future?

A: Oliver Steil: Originally, as the globally leading provider of solutions for the digital workplace, we helped our customers repair and maintain computers reactively. Today – and even more so in the future – our customers can use our platform to manage endpoints proactively, meaning computers, mobile phones, machines, or robots, and resolve issues on them. And thanks to artificial intelligence, this happens automatically and autonomously. We help companies not only detect problems on devices in the office or on the factory floor but also resolve them independently within defined boundaries – before they even become noticeable. As a platform “made in Europe,” TeamViewer, with its innovative software, is strongly positioned at the intersection of IT automation, artificial intelligence, and secure connectivity.

Q: Artificial intelligence (AI) is threatening the software industry, as AI can also write computer programs. How dangerous is this development for TeamViewer?

A: Steil: For us, AI is an opportunity, a clear growth driver. It makes a trustworthy, secure, and controllable IT infrastructure even more indispensable. The connection between endpoints is becoming increasingly valuable. With our platform, we are deeply integrated into our customers’ IT environments and have continuously expanded our portfolio – most recently with the strategically important acquisition of the software company 1E and its AI technologies for automatic problem detection and resolution. Our AI now continuously learns from millions of TeamViewer support sessions every month using the respective data, which further improves autonomous problem resolution. As a result, our platform becomes faster and more autonomous every day. This forms the basis of our future growth in a significantly expanded market for TeamViewer solutions.

Q: How is AI changing TeamViewer internally? 

A: Steil: We use AI to generate code faster. This lowers our costs, improves the product, and accelerates automation.

Q: To what extent is this model replicable? How dangerous is product piracy for TeamViewer?

A: Steil: Even though code can now be generated very quickly, TeamViewer’s offering is difficult to replicate. Our previously mentioned data asset, the deep integration into the IT infrastructures of our more than 635,000 customers, our integration into the global tech ecosystem, and our 20year top reputation in cybersecurity “made in Europe” are important competitive advantages in the AI era. No other provider even comes close to our installed base. Our product is therefore not a small app that can be quickly copied.

Q: You were once considered a German unicorn. Your company was celebrated, loved, and admired. Those days are gone. Why is it so difficult for TeamViewer to return to a growth trajectory?

A: Steil: The overall situation has changed significantly after the end of the COVID crisis. We successfully went public in 2019. Remote maintenance and remote access were in very high demand during the pandemic. Working from home became the norm. Our service became almost indispensable in this new ecosystem.

Q: That was yesterday. And today?

A: Ralf Dieter: We responded to the changed competitive environment by developing and acquiring new products. The acquisition of 1E was not only the largest acquisition in our more than 20-year company history, but above all a milestone in strengthening our market position in the United States and expanding our market potential in the AI era. In the area of automation, we now have significant growth opportunities across all industries.

Q: But last year the acquisition of 1E did not go well, did it?

A: Steil: Yes, not everything went smoothly at the beginning of the integration; some mistakes were made. In addition, there were specific external factors that temporarily dampened business. The tariff dispute, the budget freeze in the U.S. – many things came together that curbed the willingness of our U.S. customers to invest. And 1E, with its strong U.S. business, felt this strongly.

Q: When will things start improving again for TeamViewer?

A: Steil: We are working our way upward quarter by quarter. There are still some uncertainties in the market, and we also started this year with lower new business from last year. That’s why we are deliberately cautious this year and expect revenue growth of up to three percent. In the medium to long term, however, we aim to return to mid- to high-single-digit growth rates. Given our strong positioning in the AI era, we are very confident.

Q: Was the purchase price of 720 million euros for 1E far too high for TeamViewer, considering it corresponds to roughly one year’s revenue?

A: Dieter: Valuations of such companies look different today, of course. But at the time of the acquisition, this was a market standard price for a company with strong growth and a good profit margin.

Q: Recently, you were downgraded from the MDAX to the SDAX. How bitter is that for you?

A: Steil: From a reputational perspective, the downgrade is of course unpleasant. We would have liked to prevent it. However, the impact of the reclassification will be manageable for our company, as it was already anticipated due to the share price performance. We now want to return as quickly as possible.

Q: As a TeamViewer shareholder, one needs a strong stomach. Your share price has developed disastrously and is now worth only a tenth of what it was five years ago. How does the supervisory board assess this miserable share performance?

A: Dieter: Nobody is happy about the share price. Some investors have also voiced their displeasure. But external factors, not just internal ones, have contributed to this development. We on the supervisory board also feel the share price decline. For example, I personally bought a considerable number of TeamViewer shares. Nevertheless, I am not worried at all, because the company is highly profitable and has good growth prospects. This year we expect an EBITDA margin of around 43 percent. The need for further automation of IT landscapes will increase significantly.

Q: By when will the integration of 1E be completed as a growth engine for TeamViewer? 

A: Steil: In sales and marketing, the integration has been completed. We already present ourselves to customers as one company. We are also making good progress with product integration. Our customers range from individual users with two devices who pay 250 euros per year, to the largest corporations worldwide. Among our more than 635,000 customers, around 6,000 are currently very large enterprises.

Q: Is TeamViewer planning to acquire more companies?

A: Steil: Not in the short term. Our primary focus is on becoming a leading global tech company in the growing market for autonomous endpoint management.

Q: You spend many millions of euros on sponsoring the Mercedes team in Formula 1 and Formula E. Your sponsorship contract with Manchester United expires this year. Are these high sponsorship expenses worthwhile?

A: Steil: Sports sponsorship has significantly increased global awareness of the TeamViewer brand. We wanted to position the brand more internationally. We achieved this with Formula 1 and a very well-known English football club. As a result, we have gained greater visibility among companies in important countries such as Japan, China, and India. Mercedes values the partnership with us highly, as all of our solutions are used there – from remote access to equipment in manufacturing to test equipment and simulators. The Mercedes F1 team, with 2,000 employees, is also a medium-sized company and an ideal technology environment for deploying our products.

A: Dieter: We on the supervisory board supported the marketing strategy. Many objectives have now been achieved. Therefore, together with the executive board, we decided to let the contract with Manchester United expire. A strong, globally recognized brand helps to win new customers around the world. The Formula 1 partner Mercedes, which uses TeamViewer internally to connect engineers and equipment, is therefore a stroke of luck for the company.

Q: Mr. Dieter, you led the classic mechanical engineering and plant construction group Dürr as CEO for many years. Which of your industrial experiences do you bring to TeamViewer?

A: Dieter: The first ten years of my career were in the IT industry. Software has long played a dominant role in mechanical and plant engineering. During my time at Dürr, I drove the company’s digitalization. We created connected digital ecosystems in factories and also developed AI applications at an early stage. I now apply this knowledge and experience at TeamViewer.

Q: If we meet again in three years, where will TeamViewer be?

A: Steil: By 2028, TeamViewer will have significantly increased revenue and profits. Together with partners such as Salesforce or Microsoft, we will demonstrate that our AI solutions improve remote access to devices, operating systems, and work processes across all industries. We aim to become the market leader in autonomous and automated IT management for customers. We will continuously broaden our fields of application, which opens up a significantly larger market potential for us.

Q: Your contract runs until 2028. By which goals do you want to be measured? 

A: Steil: Our goals are well known. For the reasons mentioned, 2026 is a transitional year for us. In the following years, we will return to mid- to high single digit revenue growth rates.

Q: Could you be more specific?

A: Steil: I expect revenue growth between five and nine percent by 2028.

Q: Will you pay dividends in the future?

A: Dieter: Our shareholders tend to ask us more often about share buybacks than about dividend payments. As a software company, we are primarily a growth company.

Q: Mr. Steil, you are one of the longestserving CEOs in the tech industry. What drives you?

A: Steil: What motivates me – and always has – is the story of TeamViewer and the company’s potential. When you look at how many areas we can connect to, what we can offer our customers, and how broad and global our customer base is, it is a very exciting task every day. Now it’s about transformation and unlocking new growth potential. That requires focus and perseverance from all of us.

A: Dieter: As chairman of the supervisory board, I am convinced that we have now prepared the path for growth and are consistently moving forward. Our confidence in the executive board to achieve the growth targets in the coming years is very high.