Michel Combes
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Michel Combes (born 29 March 1962) is a French businessman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Lambda, an AI infrastructure and GPU cloud company. Previously, he was CEO of SoftBank Group International, Sprint, and has held CEO roles at Vodafone Europe, Alcatel-Lucent and Altice.
Early life and education
Combes was born on 29 March 1962.[citation needed] He attended the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris, then graduated from École Polytechnique in 1983,[1] Télécom ParisTech, Paris Dauphine University and Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (Cnam).[2]
Career
After holding several positions at ministries, France Télécom and TDF, Combes was CEO of Vodafone Europe from 2008 to 2012.[3]
On 22 February 2013 the Alcatel-Lucent board of directors appointed Combes as the company's CEO, succeeding Ben Verwaayen (effective April 1).[4] On 19 June 2013 Combes announced plans to focus Alcatel-Lucent's operations on networking products and high-speed broadband in order to cut costs by 1 billion euros by 2015.[5] He left Alcatel-Lucent in September 2015, after Nokia announced its intention to buy the company but before the merger was complete, to join Altice as COO.[6] He became Altice's CEO in 2016, and resigned in November 2017.[7]
Combes was appointed as the CFO of Sprint in January 2018,[8] and CEO in May of the same year.[9] His tenure ceased when Sprint merged with T-Mobile US in April 2020.[10]
Following Sprint, Combes joined SoftBank Group International as President in April 2020 and was appointed CEO on 28 January 2022, where he oversaw SBGI's operating and investment portfolios, including the SoftBank LatAm Funds.[11] He served on several boards of directors of SoftBank portfolio companies, including WeWork, Cybereason, Contentsquare, Jellysmack, Kavak, OneWeb, Sorare, Swile, TelevisaUnivision and Vestiaire Collective.[12]
In 2026, Combes was appointed CEO of Lambda, an AI infrastructure company and GPU cloud provider. He joined co-founder and CTO Stephen Balaban, who continues to lead the company's technical direction.
Personal life
Combes is married to Christie Julien, an acclaimed French concert pianist. Combes has three children.[13]
References
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- ^ Template:In lang École polytechnique, search tool
- ^ Michel Combes, in Who's Who in France, 2009
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."LSA : Biographie de Michel Combes" (in français).
- ^ Alcatel-Lucent names Michel Combes as CEO Reuters, February 22nd 2013
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Abboud, Leila (19 June 2013). "New CEO begins Alcatel makeover". Reuters.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Thomson, Adam (2 September 2015). "French economy minister slams Michel Combes' Alcatel-Lucent exit". Retrieved 10 April 2018.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Altice CEO Combes resigns as company acts to address problems". Reuters. November 9, 2017.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Sprint appoints former Altice head Michel Combes as CFO". Reuters. 2018-01-04. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Aiello, Chloe (2 May 2018). "Sprint names Michel Combes as CEO and Marcelo Claure as executive chairman". CNBC. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Kaberline, Brian (1 April 2020). "COVID-19 pushes welcome of Sprint employees to #TeamMagenta online". Kansas City Business Journal. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Michel Combes named as CEO of SoftBank Group International". Seeking Alpha. January 27, 2022.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."SoftBank shuffles Latin American fund team to report to Rajeev Misra". The Economic Times. March 4, 2022.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Did You Know Michel Combes' Wife Christie Julian Is A Well Known Pianist". eCelebrity Mirror. April 19, 2021.
