Troubled French tech giant Atos said on Monday it needed more cash than previously estimated to stay afloat and welcomed a government proposal to buy corporate activities linked to national security. Stated.
Atos, which operates supercomputers for France’s nuclear deterrent, has contracts with the French military and is an IT partner for this year’s Paris Olympics, is in the doldrums with nearly 5 billion euros ($5.4 billion) in debt. are doing.
finance…
Troubled French tech giant Atos said on Monday it needed more cash than previously estimated to stay afloat and welcomed a government proposal to buy corporate activities linked to national security. Stated.
Atos, which operates supercomputers for France’s nuclear deterrent, has contracts with the French military and is an IT partner for this year’s Paris Olympics, is in the doldrums with nearly 5 billion euros ($5.4 billion) in debt. are doing.
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire announced on Sunday that he had sent a non-binding letter of intent to acquire Atos’s “sovereign activities” to prevent it from “falling into the possession of a foreign entity.”
This activity includes supercomputers, servers using artificial intelligence and quantum computing, and cybersecurity products.
“The (Athos) Group welcomes this letter of intent, which will uphold the sovereign and strategic imperatives of the French state,” the company said on Monday.
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Atos said the proposal values the business at between 700 million euros and 1 billion euros.
Lemaire’s announcement sent Atos shares soaring 14% after the Paris Stock Exchange opened.
It has fallen 70% since the beginning of the year.
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Atos said it now needs cash of 1.1 billion euros to “fund its operations in 2024-25”, up from its previous forecast of 600 million euros.
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