Michel Combes

Michel Combes (born 29 March 1962) is a French businessman and current Chief Executive Officer of SoftBank Group International ("SBGI").[1] Previously, he was Chief Executive Officer at Sprint, and has held CEO roles at Vodafone Europe, Alcatel-Lucent and Altice.

Michel Combes
Born (1962-03-29) 29 March 1962
Boulogne-Billancourt, France
NationalityFrench
EducationÉcole Polytechnique
Télécom ParisTech
Paris Dauphine University
OccupationCEO
Employer(s)France Telecom (2003–2006)
Vodafone (2008–2012)
Alcatel-Lucent (2013–2015)
Altice (2015–2017)
Sprint (2018–2020)
SoftBank Group International (2022–present)

Early life and education

Combes was born on 29 March 1962. He attended the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris, then graduated from École Polytechnique in 1983,[2] Télécom ParisTech, Paris Dauphine University and Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (Cnam).[3]

Career

After holding several positions at ministries, France Télécom and TDF, Combes served as CEO of Vodafone Europe from 2008 to 2012.[4]

On 22 February 2013 the Alcatel-Lucent board of directors appointed Combes as the company's CEO, succeeding Ben Verwaayen (effective April 1).[5] On 19 June 2013 Combes announced plans to focus Alcatel-Lucent's operations on networking products and high-speed broadband in order to cut costs by 1 billion euros by 2015.[6] He left Alcatel-Lucent in September 2015, after Nokia announced its intention to buy the company but before the merger was complete, to join Altice as COO.[7] He became Altice's CEO in 2016, and resigned in November 2017.[8]

Combes was appointed as the CFO of Sprint in January 2018,[9] and CEO in May of the same year.[10] His tenure ceased when Sprint merged with T-Mobile US in April 2020.[11]

Following Sprint, Combes joined SoftBank Group International as President in April 2020 and was appointed to his current position of CEO on 28 January 2022, where he oversees SBGI’s operating and investment portfolios, including the SoftBank LatAm Funds.[1] He serves on several boards of directors of SoftBank portfolio companies, including WeWork, Cybereason, Contentsquare, Jellysmack, Kavak, OneWeb, Sorare, Swile, TelevisaUnivision and Vestiaire Collective.[12]

Personal life

Combes is married to Christie Julien, an acclaimed French concert pianist. Combes has three children.[13]

References
  1. "Michel Combes named as CEO of SoftBank Group International". Seeking Alpha. January 27, 2022.
  2. (in French) École polytechnique, search tool
  3. Michel Combes, in Who's Who in France, 2009
  4. "LSA : Biographie de Michel Combes" (in French).
  5. Alcatel-Lucent names Michel Combes as CEO Reuters, February 22nd 2013
  6. Abboud, Leila (19 June 2013). "New CEO begins Alcatel makeover". Reuters.
  7. Thomson, Adam (2 September 2015). "French economy minister slams Michel Combes' Alcatel-Lucent exit". Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  8. "Altice CEO Combes resigns as company acts to address problems". Reuters. November 9, 2017.
  9. "Sprint appoints former Altice head Michel Combes as CFO". Reuters. 2018-01-04. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
  10. Aiello, Chloe (2 May 2018). "Sprint names Michel Combes as CEO and Marcelo Claure as executive chairman". CNBC. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  11. Kaberline, Brian (1 April 2020). "COVID-19 pushes welcome of Sprint employees to #TeamMagenta online". Kansas City Business Journal. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  12. "SoftBank shuffles Latin American fund team to report to Rajeev Misra". The Economic Times. March 4, 2022.
  13. "Did You Know Michel Combes' Wife Christie Julian Is A Well Known Pianist". eCelebrity Mirror. April 19, 2021.


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