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Combes left telecoms equipment maker Alcatel this week to become
chief operating officer of telecoms networks operator Altice and
chairman of its French subsidiary Numericable-SFR.
He came under fire after French weekly Le Journal du Dimanche
said that he could receive the equivalent of around $15 million
in Alcatel stock by 2018. France's AMF financial regulator said
on Tuesday it was investigating whether the package respected
governance rules.
"It's not normal that a big company boss is the first to jump
ship. Mr Combes led a merger of Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia that we
supported," Macron told reporters on Wednesday after the weekly
cabinet meeting at the presidential palace.
"So it is neither comprehensible nor acceptable that Mr Combes
has decided today to leave the company when the transaction
hasn't even been completed, both morally and in terms of the
proper functioning of the company," he said.
"This case is shocking and, in particular, it's truly a case of
bad corporate behavior. When you run a company like this, you
see the transaction through to the end," Macron said.
Macron said he was waiting for the response of the AMF and a
corporate governance committee - a body set up by companies
themselves. He said he expected to have the committee's response
to the circumstances of Combes' departure by the end of next
week
(Reporting by James Regan; Writing by Michel Rose; Editing by
Pravin Char)
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