Thomson has appointed Frédéric Rose as its new CEO, effective Sept. 1. He will also join the board of directors.
Rose is currently president of Alcatel-Lucent’s Europe, Asia and Africa Region and a member of Alcatel-Lucent’s Executive Committee.
Rose will take over for Julian Waldron, Thomson’s CFO, who had been serving as interim CEO. Waldron had filled in since April, when former CEO and Chairman Frank Dangeard stepped down, after Thomson turned in a 2007 loss.
Thomson also reported a loss for the first half of 2008 of approximately $286 million. The company cited diminished sales in a lagging economy that includes unfavorable exchange rates – a reference to the weak dollar.
Looking forward, Thomson said it expects “no change in the macro-economic outlook, which creates uncertainty in many of our businesses. Against that, we have new products to market and new client wins in some of our key businesses. The U.S. box office has also held up well, and we have a good roster of DVD titles in the second half. Based on these factors, we currently expect a constant currency revenue decline year-on-year in 3Q08 at around the same level as that experienced in 2Q08.”
Thomson’s second-quarter revenue decline was 7.3 percent.
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