Didier Lombard

On 27 February 2005, Didier Lombard succeeded Thierry Breton at the head of France Telecom when Breton became Minister of the Economy. As France Telecom's chairman and chief executive officer, Didier Lombard continued the group reorganization policy initiated by Thierry Breton.[6] The reorganization project presented and implemented by Lombard saw the suppression of 22,000 posts and the mobility of 10,000 workers over three years (2006–2008). This reorganization was done unilaterally, without consultation with the unions; it does not give rise to the conclusion and the implementation of an agreement for the provisional management of jobs and skills, nor to the establishment of a saving jobs plan.[7]

Lombard was indicted in 2012 for his management during the suicide wave of France Télécom employees (more than 60 between 2006 and 2009).[8]

Lombard quit the presidency of the group in February 2011, a few months before the planned end of his term, but he remained on the payroll at France Télécom as a special advisor until he left the firm entirely in March 2011 due to the controversy surrounding him—and his €500,000 euros annual salary as an advisor.[9] His trial began in May 2019,[10] and in December 2019, he was found guilty and sentenced to one year in prison, of which 8 months suspended and to a €15,000 fine.[11]

Lombard assumed the chairmanship of the Supervisory Board of ST Microelectronics, a French-Italian semiconductor group of which he has been a director since 2004. He also sits on the boards of Thales, Technicolor (formerly Thomson) and Radiall.[12]