Seven Atos CEOs are blindsided: the sinking French IT giant has appointed another CEO

Atos, which is experiencing considerable business problems, has hired a new CEO. Datacenter Dynamics reminds us that we are talking about the appointment of the seventh head of the business in the last three years. The post of Jean-Pierre Mustier will be replaced by a new CEO, Philippe Salle, who will begin work on February 1, 2025. And right now he will take the post of president of the company. Mustier became CEO of Atos in July 2024, but he joined the company last October.

Salle has extensive experience in the field of IT consulting; at one time, the businessman was the head of the Altran Group (later to become Capgemini). His predecessor Mustier became CEO of Atos after Paul Saleh, who served in the position since January 2024. He, in turn, replaced Yves Bernaert, who served as CEO for just over a year. Finally, the directors before him were Nourdine Bihmane, Philippe Oliva and Diane Galbe.

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The latter took office when Rodolphe Belmer, who was unable to hold out in office for even a year, was removed from leadership. It is noteworthy that in the first 20 years of activity, Atos had only four CEOs. Mustier said the decision to select a new CEO was made taking into account his “extensive track record.” True, the fact that Salle himself intends to invest €9 million ($9.8 million) in Atos probably played an important role.

Atos, which offers on-premise and cloud infrastructure, consulting and IT services, has struggled for years to get out of debt, but its shares have fallen significantly amid a host of other financial problems. Atos is currently working on a restructuring plan that is expected to control the business’s debt and resolve years of financial uncertainty.

The company proposed and approved with creditors a number of measures to overcome the crisis – bonds and debt in the amount of €3.1 billion ($2.9 billion) will be converted into capital. The companies will also lend another €1.68 billion ($1.81 billion) and pour in €233 million ($250.7 million) of new capital investments. Previously, the French authorities intended to buy part of the business for €1 billion ($1.09 billion) in order to preserve critical technologies for the country, but now the deal seems to be not going through. In September, Atos published a report indicating a reduction in projected revenue over the next three years due to weak performance in the first half of 2024.