French Telecoms Tycoon Drahi to Hire Alcatel-Lucent CEO Combes for Top Jobs
August 27 2015 - 8:10AM
Dow Jones News
PARIS—French telecommunications tycoon Patrick Drahi will hire
Michel Combes, the outgoing chief executive of Alcatel-Lucent SA,
to take top jobs at his French company Numericable-SFR SA and his
holding company Altice NV, a person close to the matter said
Thursday.
Mr. Combes, who is due to leave Alcatel-Lucent Sept. 1 ahead of
its takeover by Finland's Nokia Corp., will become chairman of
Numericable-SFR and chief operating officer at Altice, the person
said, confirming news first reported by French newspaper Le
Figaro.
The news has bolstered the shares of Numericable-SFR and Altice,
which were up 2% and 3.9%, respectively, in Thursday morning
trading.
Mr. Combes, who took over the top job at Alcatel-Lucent in April
2013, has managed to quickly turn around the struggling company
through cost-cutting and asset sales and put it on track for
positive free cash flow in 2015 for the first time in almost a
decade.
Mr. Combes's record as a cost-cutter was certainly part of the
reason why Mr. Drahi hired him, since the tycoon has repeatedly
said he counts on cost-cutting to boost profitability at his French
unit and generate enough cash to service the huge debt he
contracted to finance the takeover of SFR, the country's second
largest mobile telephone operator.
Mr. Combes was also the mastermind of the sale of Alcatel-Lucent
to Nokia unveiled earlier this year. The operation was widely
welcomed by investors and shareholders as it will allow the two
smaller telecom equipment manufacturers to team up resources to
compete with stronger rivals on world markets.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 27, 2015 07:55 ET (11:55 GMT)
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