Latest news with #IliadSA
Bloomberg
13-02-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Telecom Italia CEO Says Iliad, Poste Are Its Only M&A Options
Telecom Italia SpA's only options for a possible merger and acquisition deal in its home market are French carrier Iliad SA and Italian postal operator Poste Italiane SpA, the carrier's chief executive officer said. On a conference call with analysts Thursday, CEO Pietro Labriola reiterated comments dating back to 2022 that 'for consolidation, Iliad or Poste were the only possibilities.' Italy's one-time phone monopoly does not have a preference for a possible partner, the CEO said. 'We remain focused on results and executing our plan.'
Bloomberg
12-02-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Xavier Niel's Not Ready to Throw in the Towel on AI
French President Emmanuel Macron has plenty of tools to boost AI in his home country: Brainy engineers, a fleet of nuclear-power stations and a state that isn't shy about promoting its own industries. Yet, arguably, his most powerful weapon on display at the Paris AI Action Summit was Xavier Niel, a former hacker turned telecoms billionaire whose growing ecosystem of startups and cloud infrastructure is pushing hard to keep Europe in a race dominated by the US and Asia. While most of 57-year-old Niel's $8.8 billion net worth is derived from his telco business Iliad SA and real-estate firm Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield SE, according to Bloomberg analysis, he's become a voracious backer of buzzy startups from H to Poolside to AI unicorn Mistral. He's built temples to entrepreneurship in Paris from incubator Station F to free coding school 42. And he's ramping up spending, from a €3 billion ($3.1 billion) investment in AI infrastructure at Iliad to financing nonprofit AI lab Kyutai alongside Eric Schmidt and shipping mogul Rodolphe Saade.
