Luigi Gubitosi, born in Naples 57 years ago and current commissioner of Alitalia, is the new CEO of Telecom Italia (now Tim) after the ousting of the Israeli Amos Genish. The board appointed him in the evening with the support of the directors of the Elliott fund but the opposite vote of the representatives of Vivendi that he is the first shareholder of the company but is in the minority (5 against 10) on the board. Gubitosi was also appointed General Manager of the company.
His experience in the field of telecommunications weighed in Gubitosi's favor. Gubitosi, before assuming his current position at Alitalia, was CEO of Wind and then general manager of Rai and knows the sector well, unlike Antonio Altavilla who, despite having a high professional profile and having been Sergio's right-hand man Marchionne in FCA, he has never dealt directly with tlc before joining the board of Telecom. This is why Altavilla withdrew from the race for the lead of the telephone company after describing the management of the telephone group's governance process as "amateurish".
Gubitosi's task is not the easiest. Not only does Telecom have to deal with the competition that erodes revenues and margins but the company is shaken by the continuous managerial changes and from the quarrels between the two main shareholders and waits to find a safe guide, in dialogue with politics but keeping it at arm's length.
Gubitosi's first task will be precisely that of deal with the Government to create a single ultra-broadband network by bringing together the Telecom infrastructure and that of Open Fiber. In fact, the State is present in Telecom through a key stake of 4,2% held by Cassa depositi e prestiti (Cdp) and is also present in Open Fiber, which is jointly controlled by Enel and CDP. It will make a newco, with how many personnel and how many debts or will a sort of re-nationalization of the network be carried out, as an amendment presented in Parliament by the majority to the tax decree seems to advocate? These are all very thorny problems already on Gubitosi's table, who before taking on positions in Rai, Wind and Alitalia, was financial director of Fiat and who has considerable managerial experience behind him.
On the other hand, Genish was embittered who, in an interview with Il Sole 24 Ore, said he was "still shocked by the exchange rate methods" that led to his defenestration. But, in addition to the method, Genish disagrees on the merits of the choices and on the Telecom break-up which would deprive Italy of an incumbent with the spin-off of the network: "I believe - he declared - that many investors are worried because they have no idea which both the new strategic plan that the new management will present and they think that such a radical change in the leadership of the company and of the plan should be decided by the shareholders' meeting" which in fact Vivendi is preparing to request for the beginning of 2019 in an attempt to achieve the counter-reversal.
SECURITY UPDATE TRAINING
On Monday morning, one hour after the opening of Piazza Affari, the Telecom Italia share gained 5,36%, to 0,554 euros, achieving the best rise of the Ftse Mib.
