Overview

• The federal cabinet has Lindner’s permission requests on Wednesday’s agenda due to mandatory post-ministerial cooling-off rules.
• People close to him say he has applied to join Stepstone Group’s shareholder board as an independent member, alongside approvals for additional mandates.
• If the government signs off, the one-year restriction expires in November 2025, making new paid activities permissible.
• Stepstone operates international job portals, is jointly held by KKR and Axel Springer SE, and recently reported roughly €1 billion in revenue.
• Since April he has appeared as a speaker on geopolitics and the world economy after leaving office when the Ampel coalition ended and the FDP failed to re-enter the Bundestag.