Sentenced in connection with the Tapie affair, Stéphane Richard is due to step down as CEO of Orange on January 31, 2022. Faced with the vagueness surrounding his succession, he could finally remain in office until May.
The countdown has started for the succession of Stéphane Richard at the head of Orange. The new boss of the French telecoms giant must indeed be appointed before January 31. In this sense, the group’s internal selection committee, made up of three directors (Anne-Gabrielle Heilbronner, Bernard Ramanantsoa and Stéphanie Besnier), selected three candidates.
They are Ramon Fernandez, CFO of Orange, Christel Heydemann, director of Orange and president of Schneider Electric France, and Frank Boulben, Chief Revenue Officer of the US operator Verizon, according to Reuters, confirming a information from Release. These three profiles are in the running for the post of CEO of Orange, Stéphane Richard and the government having pleaded for a two-headed management to separate the functions of chairman and CEO.
A list rejected by the Élysée?
For now, it is difficult to identify a real favorite to take over the reins of the French operator. BFMTV assures that Ramon Fernandez and Christel Heydemann, who are the two internal candidates, are best placed to become the new face of the group, while Le Figaro indicates that the choice of the board of directors would rather fall on the outsider Frank Boulben, a former Orange who made most of his career in the United States, and that the daily describes as a “Telecom Ben Smith”, in reference to the current CEO of Air France-KLM.
Despite the selection made by Orange, it could be swept aside by the Elysee, which retains control over the main appointments of the staff of the French operator. As a 23% shareholder in the group, the State could in fact choose to ignore the three names selected by Orange to impose its own, especially since “This list does not pack political power”, according to Release. Apart from this, the names of Delphine Ernotte, boss of France Télévisions, Fabienne Dulac, general manager of Orange France, or even Stéphane Pallez, current CEO of the FDJ, are often cited. Note that if a man is appointed to the post of CEO, the presidency of Orange would go to a woman in the name of parity.
Stéphane Richard could finally go to the end of his mandate
While nothing is decided at the moment, time is running out for the French operator. It is in fact on January 31st that Stéphane Richard must leave his functions. In theory, the next CEO of the group must be chosen during a board of directors on January 24, but faced with the vagueness surrounding the succession of the current CEO, Stéphane Richard could play extra time at the head of Orange. If it is almost confirmed that a new CEO will be appointed before the end of the month, Stéphane Richard could assume the chairmanship of the group until the end of his mandate, which would then end with the general assembly of the operator on May 18… after the presidential election.
Previously a candidate for his own succession, but only as president, Stéphane Richard finally gave up after being sentenced on November 24 to a one-year suspended sentence and a € 50,000 fine for complicity in the misappropriation of public property in the part of the Tapie case. In the wake of the announcement of the conviction, the board of directors of Orange accepted his resignation. After more than a decade at the head of the operator, Stéphane Richard is preparing to leave behind a group that has never really taken off on the stock market, with successes such as the quality of mobile services, the good performances achieved. in Africa and the creation of Orange Cyberdefense, but also failures, such as the Djingo connected speaker, disconnected in 2021, and Orange Bank, which is far from profitable.