Spring cleaning is well under way at the head offices of
some of Europe's largest technology companies, with several
high-profile executives announcing their departure within a
week.
Solomon Trujillo, the chief executive officer of Orange,
resigned earlier this week after less than 15 months at the helm.
His resignation - as part of a wide-ranging management overhaul at
France Télécom, Orange's parent company - comes just one day after
Tapio Hintikka, CEO of the Swedish-Finnish telecommunications
company TeliaSonera, quit after disagreeing with other board
members on issues including pay.
These two resignations follow Ulrich Schumacher's surprise
decision to step down as CEO of German chip maker Infineon
Technologies over management disputes, and Deutsche Telekom board
member Josef Brauner's decision to quit after accepting
responsibility for a failed truck-toll system for the German
government. Brauner was responsible for the group's fixed-line
business.
The management changes come as European technology companies
squabble over strategies to cut costs, while at the same time
achieve market growth.
Trujillo's departure is part of a larger reorgansation that
includes having Orange, once a standalone company, fully
re-integrated into the parent company, France Télécom said.
The French operator acquired Orange in 2000, merged the UK
mobile operator with its own wireless operations and sold a stake
in the new company to the public. Since September, France Télécom
has been buying out the mobile unit's minority shareholders and
aims to snap up the remaining shares this month.
Orange is Europe's third-largest mobile phone company, after
Vodafone T-Mobile International.
When Trujillo took over the helm of Orange in March 2003, he
pursued a strategy of aggressive growth, adding around five million
customers to the unit's some 50 million and increasing revenue by
around 10%.
Trujillo will be replaced by Sanjiv Ahuja, Orange's chief
operating officer. As part of the reorganisation, Ahuja and two
other Orange executives, John Allwood and Didier Quillot, in charge
of Orange's UK and French operations respectively, will join the
France Télécom board.
In addition, the French telecommunications group will split its
business into five operational and five performance divisions under
an executive committee headed by chairman and CEO Thierry Breton.
One of the more visible changes will be merger of the
Wanadoo internet subsidiary with the fixed-line business.
John Blau writes for IDG News Service