Telecom Italia’s largest investor Vivendi could reportedly be looking to replace the operator’s current CEO Luigi Gubitosi (pictured) in the near future, with the French group calling his role into question due to the company’s current problems.

Two sources told Reuters Gubitosi had survived a boardroom showdown last week, which was organised by Vivendi following Telecom Italia’s decision to cut its guidance and issue a profit warning in its most recent earnings.

One of the sources said the board meeting had however clarified Vivendi’s concerns about the strategy of the company, and that management did not “have a clear vision” of how to respond to the French group’s concerns.

In terms of successors to Gubitosi, Reuters reported Vivendi is keen on Telecom Italia’s Brazil CEO Pietro Labriola, although that is unconfirmed by all the parties involved.

Struggles
Gubitosi was appointed as Telecom Italia’s CEO in November 2018, at a time when Vivendi was involved in a bitter battle for control of Telecom Italia with private equity investor Elliott Management, which had built up a stake in the operator.

He was tasked with turning around the company’s fortunes, including stemming a revenue decline in its domestic operations, but has struggled, in addition to coming up with a long-term plan to extract value from its network assets.

Despite its struggles, Gubitosi was backed by Vivendi and the treasury-owned CDP group (which owns a 10 per cent stake in the operator) to continue to serve at the helm, being reappointed in March.