BREAKING NEWS is that EADS board of directors today has accepted the
resignation of No”l Forgeard as joint chief executive officer and that
of Gustav Humbert as Airbus CEO. Appointed to replace Forgeard is
Louis Gallois. He joins the remaining CEO German Tom Enders in
leading EADS and the EADS executive committee with immediate effect.
Gallois (63), currently president of the French railway company SNCF,
has broad experience in industrial and especially aerospace businesses.
He has been a board member of EADS since 2000. From 1989 to 1992,
Gallois was chairman and CEO of the French aero engine manufacturer
SNECMA, now Safran. Subsequently, from 1992 to 1996, Gallois served
in the same position as at Aerospatiale. Christian Streiff (51) has
been nominated as Airbus CEO and appointed as member of the EADS
executive committee with immediate effect. Streiff brings 26 years of
all-round top management experience with Saint-Gobain, a diversified
multi-national company. The news was not unexpected. At the same
time EADS announced that the investment bank Rothschild has determined
a price of E2.75bn for the 20% BAE Systems stake in Airbus. This is
thought to be around half the value put on the company by the British
company and may cause a major rethink.
http://www.eads.com