Hans Snook Executive of a wireless paging business (which subsequently became part of the Hutchison Whampoa Group). In 1992 Snook was despatched to the UK and closed Hutchison's Rabbit phone system; and instead turned efforts to developing the UK's fourth mobile phone network. On April 28, 1994 Orange was launched. Within five years Orange had developed an enviable reputation as well as a growing international presence. Mannesmann of Germany purchased Orange Plc, in a failed attempt to challenge Vodafone as the World's leading mobile phone company. This set off a chain of events which resulted in France Télécom taking ownership of Orange,
Hans Gerling Hans Gerling Hans Gerling (born June 6, 1915 in Cologne, † August 14, 1991) was a German businessman who headed the Gerling Konzern, one of Europe's largest insurance groups, from 1949 until his death. He was the second of three sons of Auguste, b. Hoffmeister and Robert Gerling, founder of the Cologne-based Gerling insurance company. Hans Gerling joined the Gerling Konzern in 1937 and became CEO in 1949. After the death of Robert Gerling in 1935, management of the Gerling-Konzern, which was the largest privately owned insurance company in Europe, passed first to Walter Forstreuter, then to Hans Gerling's brother