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 feature CDOs’ biggest problem? Getting colleagues to understand their role Chief data officers face several challenges, including new demands from AI, but they must also sell the value of their jobs to coworkers unsure what CDOs do. By Grant Gross May 07, 2024 7 mins Chief Data Officer Data Governance Business IT Alignment interview SAP forecasts clarity in the cloud After customers and user groups that adopted S/4HANA early accused SAP of bait-and-switch tactics, CIO editor-in-chief in Germany Martin Bayer recently sat with Christian Klein, CEO of the multinational software company, to clear the air on cloud rea By Martin Bayer May 07, 2024 5 mins SAP Generative AI Cloud Architecture opinion Rethinking ‘Big Data’ — and the rift between business and data ops As an era, ‘Big Data’ may be over, but its underlying value (and tensions) live on, even as organizations seek to make the leap to an AI future. By Thornton May May 07, 2024 5 mins Big Data Business IT Alignment Data Management news ADNOC, G42 and Presight partner to accelerate AI solutions By Andrea Benito May 06, 2024 3 mins Artificial Intelligence 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