{"id":643458,"date":"2013-02-22T01:45:23","date_gmt":"2013-02-22T06:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/?p=612996"},"modified":"2013-02-22T01:45:23","modified_gmt":"2013-02-22T06:45:23","slug":"alcatel-lucent-finds-its-new-ceo-ex-vodafone-europe-chief-michel-combes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/643458","title":{"rendered":"Alcatel-Lucent finds its new CEO: Ex-Vodafone Europe chief Michel Combes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just three weeks after Alcatel-Lucent CEO Ben Verwaayen announced his resignation<\/a>, the Franco-American telecom vendor has found his replacement. Former Vodafone Europe CEO Michel Combes will take the helm of Alcatel-Lucent on April 1.<\/p>\n

Combes headed up Vodafone\u2019s all-important Europe region from 2008 to 2012, when he found himself in an employment bind<\/a>. He left Vodafone to take over as CEO of Vivendi\u2019s SFR in France, only to see the man who hired him, Vivendi CEO Jean-Bernard Levy, ousted before Combes could take on his new role. Now Combes has landed at one of world\u2019s biggest infrastructure vendors.<\/p>\n

Verwaayen, as promised, is staying on until April to help Combes ease into his new job.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlcatel-Lucent is an unrivalled technology leader in the telecommunications industry with an immense array of talent and capabilities in R&D facing major challenges,\u201d Combes said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cThis is a company I know well and I look forward to succeeding Ben, working with the key international customers, and driving the business into sustained profitability for its customers, employees and shareholders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Combes is taking over a troubled Alcatel-Lucent. The company has struggled since the merger six years ago of France\u2019s Alcatel and the U.S.\u2019s Lucent Technologies, which was supposed to create the world\u2019s dominant telecom vendor. Instead, Alcatel-Lucent has lost ground to many of its traditional rivals such as Sweden\u2019s Ericsson as well as newer market entrants such as Huawei.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock<\/a> user mtkang<\/em><\/p>\n

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