See update below
Angela Merkel is reportedly ready to dramatically quit as Chancellor of Germany to found her own startup in Berlin. The astonishing news comes just months after her Christian Democrats secured a great result in the 2013 federal election, eventually entering into a grand coalition with the Social Democratic Party.
But it is believed that Merkel, who has lead Germany since 2005, has had enough of the stress of the job, and in addition was quite taken with what she saw when she toured Berlin’s startup scene ahead of the vote last year.
A source apparently close to the Chancellor said: “It’s not a surprise, to be honest. I mean, who wants her job really? If it’s not dealing with the economic downturn of a generation, it’s trying to prevent Russia from launching a full-scale invasion of a fellow European country. And perhaps worst of all, there’s the endless boring meetings with the likes of David Cameron and Francois Hollande. The life of an entrepreneur sounds much more promising, even at this stage of her career.”
When asked what kind of startup Merkel would consider founding, the source – who was using the pseudonym Ben Had – told Silicon Allee that it was likely to be “something in the consumer tech space; a nice messaging app, maybe. She’s knows they love buying that kind of stuff in Silicon Valley, and she’s hoping to persuade her old mucker Philipp Roesler to join her as not only is he at a loose end, but he also has the contacts in the Valley.”
When asked to confirm the veracity of the reports, Chancellor Merkel’s new spokesman, Philipp Fülls, said: “Oh blimey, here I was trying to enjoy this lovely April morning and you have to come and ruin it for me. Erm, let me get back to you…”
Can we expect to see a new face at the startup event merry-go-round soon?
Post-midday update: So – hopefully no one forgot to check the date when reading this story 😉