O2 (UK) billion (£2 per share) in cash. It went through finally in 2006. According to the merger announcement, O2 retained its name and continued to be based in the United Kingdom, keeping both the brand and the management team. The merger became unconditional on 23 January 2006. Following the acquisition of O2, Telefónica undertook a corporate organisational change that saw the merging of its fixed and mobile businesses in Spain, and the transfer of Telefónica's non-Spanish European telecommunications properties into the O2 brand. Thus, the Český Telecom and Eurotel operations in the Czech Republic as well as the Telefónica Deutschland business
Zündwaren monopoly Zündwaren monopoly The German Zündwaren monopoly (translated Monopoly for Safety Matches) began in 1930 when Germany's Reichstag passed a bill named "Zündwarenmonopolgesetz" ("Safety Matches Monopoly Law"), which allowed the "Deutsche Zündwaren-Monopolgesellschaft" (translated "German Society for the Safety Matches Monopoly") exclusive rights to distribute safety matches within the borders of the German Empire. The only brands the "Deutsche Zündwaren-Monopolgesellschaft" could distribute were "Welthölzer" ("World Matches") and "Haushaltsware" ("Household article"). Local German manufacturers obtained licenses to produce preassigned volumes to sell domestically and were not allowed to export these matches or to establish new firms. The official monopoly had been acquired by