Billionaire businesspeople are divided over Germany's domestic politics and the string of government failures culminating in the migration crisis.

Hasso Plattner, the billionaire co-founder of software giant SAP, said in a recent interview that parts of Berlin have been occupied by Arabs and that he would rather reside in the neighbouring smaller town of Potsdam. In an interview with Swiss newspaper NZZ, the 80-year-old said,

„Germans have a penchant for self-destruction. I’m a Berliner, but I don’t go to Berlin anymore, I stay in Potsdam. The fact that entire neighborhoods in the city appear to have been taken over by Arabs, and that they practice their morality and concept of law there is not good. Behind closed doors everyone says something went wrong,”

Plattner said.

🇩🇪🔥Hasso Plattner, the billionaire co-founder of software giant @SAP, says that entire districts in the capital city of Berlin „appear to have been taken over by Arabs.”

Plattner, a famed entrepreneur in Germany and the head of the Hasso Plattner Institute, shows Germany’s… pic.twitter.com/iXBSuhM9E4

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) February 1, 2024

According to the businessman, there is a major deficit of trust permeating Germany, and this attitude weakens the country’s position both economically and internationally. Plattner is one of the richest people in the world, with an estimated fortune of around 20 billion euros. His critique indicates the mounting unease of the German business elite towards the policies of the leftist-liberal government. He spends most of his time in the United States. Despite his criticism of migration policy, Plattner has stated that he opposes the views of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

By contrast, Theo Muller, the owner of Germany’s most popular food brands including Mulllermilch, Weihenstephan and Landliebe, disagrees with this view. Muller recently praised the AfD and said that he had met the party’s co-leader Alice Weidel on several occasions and that he saw nothing wrong with her stated position, Remix News reports.