Orange CEO says he did not speak in support of boycott
Stephane Richard says his Cairo statements on wanting to pull out of Israel were misunderstood, had ‘nothing to do with politics’
Orange CEO Stephane Richard denied on Thursday night that his comments in Cairo a day earlier on wanting to pull out of the Israeli market were in any way politically motivated, in an apparent move to toe the company line saying the decision to sever ties with its Israeli subsidiary, announced Thursday, was purely business-based.
In an interview with French newspaper Le Monde under the headline “The CEO of Orange explains himself,” Richard maintained that he had not spoken in support of boycotting Israel.
On Wednesday Richard said during a press conference in Cairo that he would like to end cooperation with Israeli local operator Partner Communications “tomorrow,” noting the sensitivity of the issue to the Arab public. However, when Orange officially announced the move a day later, it claimed the decision was based purely on its desire to pull the brand from “countries in which it is not, or is no longer, an operator.”
Richard told Le Monde on Thursday that Partner “is a company that uses the name of Orange, but that has nothing to do with the group and is not controlled by us.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/orange-ceo-i-did-not-speak-in-support-of-boycott/
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