Deals
Orange-Bouygues Deal Collapse Ends Months of Tense Diplomacy
- Stocks plunge after French phone merger proved too complex
- Government demands on price, governance were late obstacle
Inside the Collapse of the Orange, Bouygues Deal
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In the early morning hours after talks to buy the phone business of Bouygues SA collapsed, Orange SA Chief Financial Officer Ramon Fernandez took to Twitter with pictures of vibrant flowers: An orchid, a begonia, an iris and a water lily.
“After three months of intense Jardiland, back to high-speed business with an incomparable Orange momentum,” Fernandez wrote Saturday, tagging his boss, Chief Executive Officer Stephane Richard. The night before, after markets had closed, the two sides had called it quits, giving up any hope of clinching a deal. After a nervous weekend for investors, the stocks opened with massive declines Monday.