Deputy chief executive Vittorio Colao has become the boss of Vodafone after taking on the role held by Arun Sarin for the past five years.
The handover at the company’s annual meeting came as shareholders voted on Vodafone’s £1 billion share buyback scheme, announced last week after its stock crashed.
The move was overwhelmingly supported by shareholders with 99.6% of those who voted by proxy giving their approval.
Between 2004 and 2006 Vittorio Colao was Chief Executive Officer of RSC MediaGroup in Milan, a leading Media Group, publishing newspapers, magazines and books in Italy, Spain and France.
Prior to that, Vittorio held the post of Regional CEO, South Europe, Middle East and Africa, of Vodafone Group Plc, and he was an Executive Director on the main Board. Before the Vodafone acquisition, Vittorio was COO and CEO of Omnitel Pronto Italia, now Vodafone Italy.
Vittorio spent the early part of his career at McKinsey & Co, where he was a Partner in the Milan office, working on media, telecommunications and industrial goods.
Mr Colao takes over at a challenging time for Vodafone.
The firm last week said stiff competition in the mobile market and the wider economic slowdown had hit its financial performance, warning that annual sales would now be at the bottom end of market expectations.
But Mr Colao said the group was resilient.
“Despite the current economic climate and despite increased competition, which can result from time to time in challenges in some of the markets we are in, I am convinced that Vodafone will continue to grow its business profitably,” he told shareholders.
ITNewsAfrica.com
