Germany’s Deutsche Post is set to drop its long-standing corporate name and rebrand as DHL, in a move marking a shift toward international logistics that has since come to dominate its business.
Shareholders approved the change at the company’s annual general meeting, with the new name expected to be entered into the commercial register in the second half of the year.
Deutsche Post, a successor to Germany’s former state postal service, the Deutsche Bundespost, was gradually privatized in the 1990s. It bought the US logistics firm DHL in 2002, after which its international business became increasingly important. The acronym DHL stands for its founders Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hillblom and Robert Lynn.
Today, only about one-fifth of revenue comes from its traditional German mail and parcel operations. Most income is generated by global divisions, including express delivery, freight transport and supply chain logistics — all operating under the DHL brand.
“Over the past decades, our company has developed from the former Deutsche Bundespost into a globally leading logistics group,” said CEO Tobias Meyer.
Deutsche Post had already publicly rebranded itself as DHL Group two years ago, dropping Deutsche Post from its marketing name. The latest move makes it official, with the new name expected to be entered into the commercial register in the second half of the year.
Meyer’s predecessor, Frank Appel, had delayed a legal name change to avoid unsettling German staff. The rebranding in 2024 only affected the company’s external image, leaving its legal structure unchanged.
The name Deutsche Post AG won’t disappear entirely, though. Instead, it will simply be used for a new subsidiary handling the company’s German mail and parcel business, instead of the entire group.
