Christian Müller, Co-CEO of Schwarz Digits, Assumes Overall Responsibility – Former Co-CEO Rolf Schumann Leaves Company After Successful Development Phase

• Christian Müller, previously Co-CEO of Schwarz Digits, will become CEO of Schwarz Digits, a company of Schwarz Group, effective July 10, 2026.
• Rolf Schumann, until now Co-CEO of Schwarz Digits, is leaving the company by mutual agreement, effective immediately, following seven years of shared development.
• Consolidating overall responsibility continues the division's strategic focus.

Effective July 10, 2026, Christian Müller, currently Co-CEO of Schwarz Digits, will assume sole overall responsibility for Schwarz Digits, a company of Schwarz Group. Rolf Schumann, until now Co-CEO, is leaving the company by mutual agreement, effective immediately, after seven years of building the division together.

Rolf Schumann joined the companies of Schwarz Group in 2019 as Chief Digital Officer and was appointed to the Executive Board in the spring of 2020. Together with Christian Müller, who was Head of IT at the time, he formed a closely linked dual leadership team tasked with digitalizing the company step by step. Initial pioneering milestones of this successful collaboration included the development and international rollout of the Lidl Plus and Kaufland Card customer loyalty programs, which are used by more than 100 million customers today.

The mandate to place digitalization and technological innovation at the core of the retail company has been successfully completed: digital thinking, agility, and creativity are now solid, foundational pillars across the entire ecosystem of the companies of Schwarz Group.
The companies of Schwarz Group expressly thank Rolf Schumann for his dedication and the numerous milestones achieved during this time, such as the acquisition and integration of XM Cyber, as well as the development of high-profile partnerships and AI investments. Working in close cooperation with Christian Müller, he built Schwarz Digits into an independent division that stands today as an integrated technology provider for digital independence in Germany and Europe. The companies of Schwarz Group wish him all the best for his future endeavors.

"We thank Rolf Schumann for his outstanding achievements over the past seven years. The dual leadership team has done excellent work. Christian Müller will perfectly leverage the foundation built together to lead Schwarz Digits into its next phase of growth," says Gerd Chrzanowski, General Partner of the companies of Schwarz Group.

Christian Müller, Co-CEO of Schwarz Digits, assumes overall responsibility during a phase of targeted alignment. Since March 2026, Schwarz Digits has already been focusing all of its units under a single, unified brand with the goal of linking the strengths anchored within Schwarz Digits even more closely: creativity, a pioneering spirit, and operational excellence, backed by stable structures and process consistency.

"Thanks to our excellent collaboration, Schwarz Digits has developed into a digital trailblazer - Rolf Schumann deserves my sincere thanks for this. I look forward to actively driving the next phase of growth together with the team," says Christian Müller, Co-CEO of Schwarz Digits.