CFO Paul Saleh becomes the IT services company’s fourth new CEO a little over a year, as the company seeks to fill a funding shortfall. Credit: Thinkstock Atos CEO Yves Bernaert has quit; The board immediately replaced him with Paul Saleh, CFO of the company since August 2023. Bernaert cited differences of opinion over governance as the reason for his departure: He disagreed with the board about the need for recent changes in the company’s strategy, and the way they were executed. Two weeks ago, the company announced plans to sell off more of its activities, as it struggled to conclude the sale of its managed infrastructure services business, known as Tech Foundations, to EP Equity Investment. The company needs to raise capital as it seeks to renegotiate €1.5 billion ($1.65 billion) in debt falling due within the year. Saleh is the company’s fourth new CEO in little more than a year. Former Accenture executive Bernaert took over in October 2023, replacing caretaker CEO Nourdine Bihmane, who then returned to his post as leader of Tech Foundations, the business Atos still hopes to sell. His predecessor, Rodolphe Belmer, was appointed CEO in December 2022 and left in August 2023 following a dispute with activist shareholders. Alongside Saleh’s appointment, Atos board chairman Jean-Pierre Mustier also named two new directors, Sujatha Chandrasekaran, a former CIO of CommonSpirit Health and of Kimberly-Clark, and Monika Maurer, CEO of Radio Frequency Systems and a former COO of Nokia. Having a finance expert like Saleh at the helm could help stabilize Atos as it seeks to negotiate the uncertainties around its debt rescheduling and its recapitalization plans, which the company says are unchanged since its announcement on Jan. 3, 2024. “Paul is a seasoned senior executive, with extensive experience in corporate finance, corporate turnarounds, and restructuring — including within the technology industry. He is the right person to lead Atos during this period of transformation,” said Mustier. The transformations Mustier is referring to include the sale of Tech Foundations to EPEI and the possible sale of its big data and security business to Airbus. It is considering the sale of other activities to raise capital too — but must balance its capital needs against maintaining the attractivity of remaining activities for customers, employees, and investors. The company said it is on target to meet its financial projections for the full year 2023, including organic growth of between 0% and 2%, and an operating margin of between 4% and 5% of revenue. However, it expects to miss its free cash flow forecast of negative €1 billion, falling a further €100 million short. It had previously reported revenue of €11.3 billion and free cash flow of negative €197 million for the full year 2022. Related content news NASA appoints first chief AI officer as the technology’s importance rises The US space agency has quietly pioneered AI for decades. With CDO David Salvagnini’s expanded remit, it now has a dedicated leader to coordinate and secure use of the rapidly advancing technology. By John Dunn May 14, 2024 4 mins Aerospace and Defense Industry Chief Data Officer Government IT news analysis China-US AI talks Tuesday have absurdly low expectations Best case scenario from the talks is that China will agree to maybe talk some more, but given how high the stakes are, that may be enough. By Evan Schuman May 14, 2024 7 mins Regulation Generative AI IT Governance news Adobe introduces AI assistant to help enterprises exploit data held in PDFs Rather than read through long documents, workers will be able to ask questions of them using Adobe’s new Acrobat AI Assistant for enterprise. By Sascha Brodsky May 14, 2024 1 min Generative AI Enterprise Applications news 2024 CIO50 Saudi Arabia Awards: Nominations are now open By Andrea Benito May 14, 2024 4 mins PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES EVENTS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe