Archive for December 2014
Orange, star of the CAC40 in 2014
Having suffered in the past, 2014 proved to be Orange’s year…at least on the CAC40. Orange posted the most impressive share price turnaround in 2014, posting a 60% jump in their share price over the course of the year. As CEOs of listed companies often spend a disproportionate amount of their time, Stephane Richard had cause […]
La Poste successfully tests delivery by drone
What started as a joke earlier in the year looks to be moving into the realm of realism. The French postal service, La Poste, has completed a first, successful round of mail delivery by drone tests. The first tests were run by their subsidiary Geopost and all aspects of delivery including take-off, actual flight, landing […]
Digital ad spending in France to surpass $3 billion this year
According to study just released by eMarketer, digital ad spend in France has grown 7% in 2014 to surpass $3 billion, accounting for 20.2% of total media ad spend. While there continues to be a misalignment in terms of consumers offline vs online time and where advertisers allocate their spend, eMarketer’s findings illustrate that a […]
2014 Year-End To-Do List
As another year draws to a close, I prepare to clear my desk and tie up a few loose ends that I had been meaning to address since the start of the year but never got around to doing… In laughter or in pain, happy holidays to all !
eFounders launches Solved, putting live software support at your fingertips
Everyone can relate to having to deal with software bugs. All of us probably spend too much wasted time trying to sort through software glitches rather than being productive. eFounders it looking to change all that with its private beta launch of Solved, a new app which connects live, in real-time business collaborators with certified software experts. […]
Archos to support France’s digital plan for its schools
As a part of President Francois Hollande’s digital plan for schools, he has set as a target for all middle school aged kids (‘5eme in France’) to be equipped with a tablet at the start of the 2015/2016 school year. This would equate to approximately 45k students who would use the tablet to “improve students’ […]
Paris Founders Event alums ‘Where are they Now’: Phonotonic
At our spring Paris Founders Event (PFE), Phontonic (incubated by Agoranov) launched Music Battle, a unique and playful connected gaming experience based on music. The way it works is that one connected object, a ball, gives rhythm and the other, the second ball, is the lead. Both balls are connected via an app. You can […]
Atos to buy Xerox’s IT outsourcing unit for $1.05 billion
Atos announced yesterday that they’ve agreed to buy Xerox’s IT outsourcing unit for $1.05 billion, which was well received by the markets spurring Atos’ shares to jump up to 9.3%. The acquisition will be a cash deal, with Xerox potentially getting an additional $50 million depending on the condition of certain assets upon completion of […]
Deezer hires new CEO and announces new lyrics feature
After a long search following the shock departure of Axel Dauchez last year, Deezer will be turning the page and starting off 2015 with a new CEO. Hans-Holger Albrecht, CEO of Swedish media and telecom group Millicom will be taking the reins of Deezer starting in February. Having run Millicom, a company which delivers […]
Xavier Niel scoops up Orange Suisse for €2.3 billion
Having successfully entered and disrupted France’s telco market, first in triple play and then in mobile, he’s recently been setting his sights on new markets. Although the T-mobile US acquisition didn’t go his way, he did have have a successful first move abroad by taking a 55% stake in Monoco Telecom. Now he’s wrapping up […]