France Telecom chief executive officer (CEO) Didier Lombard, under pressure after a rash of suicides at the former state monopoly, will hand over the company reins to his deputy on March 1, the group announced on Monday.
Lombard will keep his position as chairman of the board until early next year, but will stand down as chief executive officer one year earlier than scheduled, France Telecom said in a statement, ending weeks of rumors about his fate.
“Didier Lombard, France Telecom chief executive, has decided to propose to the company’s board meeting on February 24 to separate the jobs of chairman and chief executive from March 1, 2010,” the statement said. “Stephane Richard, current deputy chief executive, will become chief executive in charge of the group’s operations.”
Richard, formerly a top aide to French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, became deputy chief executive on Jan. 1 after joining France Telecom as chief of international operations last year.
Lombard, who has led the company since February 2005, had come under criticism for his handling of a crisis that hit staff morale and led to a spate of suicides in the past two years.
In an interview with Le Figaro newspaper online, the outgoing chief executive expressed regret over his handling of the suicides and said his decision to step aside was for the good of the former state monopoly.
“My decision was taken in the interest of the group,” he was quoted as saying on Le Figaro’s Web site. “With Stephane Richard, we will join efforts to provide the impetus that the employees expect.”
Asked if he had any regrets, the company boss pointed to the suicides, saying: “Of course, above all, not being able to avoid the social crisis.”
“I should certainly have acted earlier,” he said, adding that steps the company took in October to boost morale should probably have been implemented two months earlier.
France Telecom unions say 35 employees committed suicide over two years.
COMBINING FORCES: The 66th Marine Brigade would support the 202nd Military Police Command in its defense of Taipei against ‘decapitation strikes,’ a source said The Marine Corps has deployed more than 100 soldiers and officers of the 66th Marine Brigade to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) as part of an effort to bolster defenses around the capital, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Two weeks ago, a military source said that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Marine Corps to increase soldier deployments in the Taipei area. The 66th Marine Brigade has been tasked with protecting key areas in Taipei, with the 202nd Military Police Command also continuing to defend the capital. That came after a 2017 decision by the ministry to station
ALL-IN-ONE: A company in Tainan and another in New Taipei City offer tours to China during which Taiwanese can apply for a Chinese ID card, the source said The National Immigration Agency and national security authorities have identified at least five companies that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese identification cards while traveling in China, a source said yesterday. The issue has garnered attention in the past few months after YouTuber “Pa Chiung” (八炯) said that there are companies in Taiwan that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese documents. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) last week said that three to five public relations firms in southern and northern Taiwan have allegedly assisted Taiwanese in applying for Chinese ID cards and were under investigation for potential contraventions of the Act Governing
‘INVESTMENT’: Rubio and Arevalo said they discussed the value of democracy, and Rubio thanked the president for Guatemala’s strong diplomatic relationship with Taiwan Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Guatemala City on Wednesday where they signed a deal for Guatemala to accept migrants deported from the US, while Rubio commended Guatemala for its support for Taiwan and said the US would do all it can to facilitate greater Taiwanese investment in Guatemala. Under the migrant agreement announced by Arevalo, the deportees would be returned to their home countries at US expense. It is the second deportation deal that Rubio has reached during a Central America trip that has been focused mainly on immigration. Arevalo said his
‘SOVEREIGN AI’: As of Nov. 19 last year, Taiwan was globally ranked No. 11 for having computing power of 103 petaflops. The governments wants to achieve 1,200 by 2029 The government would intensify efforts to bolster its “Sovereign Artificial Intelligence [AI]” program by setting a goal of elevating the nation’s collective computing power in the public and private sectors to 1,200 peta floating points per second (petaflops) by 2029, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The goal was set to fulfill President William Lai’s (賴清德) vision of turning Taiwan into an “AI island.” Sovereign AI refers to a nation’s capabilities to produce AI using its own infrastructure, data, workforce and business networks. One petaflop allows 1 trillion calculations per second. As of Nov. 19 last year, Taiwan was globally ranked No. 11 for
RSS