French IT company Atos announced the resignation of Rodolphe Belmer and appointment of two deputy CEOs, Nourdine Bihmane and Philippe Oliva to lead business growth.
The departure of Rodolphe Belmer, who took over in January, follows reports of board divisions over revamping the IT services company, Reuters news report said.
Atos said it plans to split into two publicly listed entities. Nourdine Bihmane and Philippe Oliva will lead these two business entities.
Strategy of Atos is aimed at unlocking value as part of a broader plan that would cost an estimated 1.6 billion euros in 2022-2023.
Atos will sell assets worth about 700 million euros. It has already sold its 2.5 percent stake in payments company Worldline as part of its disposals plan, raising 220 million euros.
Atos is considering spinning off and combining BDS with its services operations, notably those aimed at helping customers move to the cloud.
Dubbed Evidian, these operations combined generated 4.9 billion euros in revenue in 2021, up by 5 percent from the previous year, and an operating margin of 7.8 percent.
The remaining part of Atos will include its declining and loss-making IT infrastructure management services, which had sales of 5.4 billion euros last year.
Atos said it aimed to return to growth and profits for these activities by 2026.
Rodolphe Belmer and the board clashed over the fate of cybersecurity unit BDS, as he was willing to sell the business while the board wanted to retain it.
Atos is deemed strategic by the French government for its high-tech assets such the manufacture of supercomputers and software used by the army and the finance ministry to manage tax collection. Former prime minister Edouard Philippe sits on its board.
