On the face of it, Thierry Breton is well qualified to regulate Europe’s technology industry. He briefly served as France’s finance minister before running computing giant Atos, one of France’s IT industry champions, from 2009 to 2019. However, Athos is currently in a serious predicament. The stock price has fallen more than 90% in the past five years. Issuance of new shares to raise new capital has been suspended. It’s far from clear that the company can survive without a bailout.
Of course, it has been some time since Breton left Athos for Brussels, where he worked as the European Union’s internal market commissioner. A lot may have changed since Breton left. But it’s hard to shake the feeling that Athos’s predicament goes back further than recent months.
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This is a time when many technology companies are thriving. The value of major American companies such as Facebook and Microsoft soared. Venture capital firms are pouring huge amounts of money into technology startups. Chinese high-tech companies are expanding globally. On the other hand, the amount of time and money we spend on mobile phones is constantly increasing.
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Given this background, you would think that a well-managed computing company with the right products would at least be able to maintain its value. But Athos has struggled to do so. It appears that Mr. Breton did not leave the business on a good note.
Whether Athos survives or not, Brereton’s job as the person who helps create the rules that shape the development of artificial intelligence (AI) is secure. While his old colleagues tried to stop Athos from sinking, the EU Internal Market Commissioner took a better course.