France Telecom hires Trujillo
Former U S West chief to head unit
denverpost.com
By Kris Hudson
Denver Post Business Writer
Friday, February 14, 2003 - Sacre bleu! Solomon Trujillo has crossed the pond.
France Telecom announced Thursday it hired the former US West chief as chief executive of its European wireless subsidiary, Orange S.A.
The move comes more than 2 1/2 years after Trujillo left Denver Baby Bell US West upon its merger with upstart Qwest Communications International.
Trujillo, last in Denver on Saturday for the Latin American Educational Foundation's annual gala, was in France on Thursday and could not be reached for comment.
Prior to joining Orange, Trujillo, 51, spent more than two years at the helm of tiny wireless communications company Graviton in La Jolla, Calif. However, Graviton seemed to wane in recent months, losing most of the former US West execs Trujillo hired - including Greg Winn, Dan Burns and John Aragon - and making no public announcements since June.
At Orange, Trujillo will oversee a company with 30 million subscribers in cellular-saturated Europe. He will begin working for Orange on March 3.
Trujillo served as a member of Orange's board since 2001.
"Sol struck me as the kind of guy that really liked running a big company," said Richard Klugman, an analyst at Jeffries & Co. "I would have thought he would have remained in the U.S."
At US West, Trujillo became president and CEO in 1995 and chairman in 1999. His tenure saw US West expand its high-speed Internet offerings and boast a strong stock and hefty dividends. However, he also oversaw an acrimonious relationship with US West's unions, a three-week strike in 1998 and a poor customer-service record.
"Sol inherited a mess," said Tom Friedberg, an analyst with Janco Partners in Denver. "There were some difficult times in the process of the Qwest merger, but Sol played the hand he was dealt, and he was left a mess."
Upon leaving US West, Trujillo received severance pay valued at $70 million.
Trujillo's move to Orange is intriguing in that Trujillo has not previously taken an active operations role in a large wireless company, Friedberg said. At Orange, Trujillo will replace CEO Jean Francois Pontal, who resigned in December. |
