Cagliari, 31st August 2004. Tiscali announces today that Mr Rafi Kouyoumdjian, CEO of Tiscali France (listed as Liberty Surf Group) since the acquisition of Liberty Surf by Tiscali France in 2001, is leaving Tiscali to pursue a career outside the Group.
“Mr Kouyoumdjian has contributed to the successful integration of Liberty Surf within the Tiscali Group and has led Tiscali France to become one of the most successful ISPs in France. We thank him for his work and wish him every luck in his future career”, says Mr Huisman, CEO of the Tiscali Group.
Diego Massidda, CEO of Tiscali South Africa, will replace Mr Kouyoumdjian as CEO of Liberty Surf as of October 1st 2004, with Massimo Cristofori, CFO of the Tiscali Group and Board Member of Liberty Surf, temporarily taking over the role of CEO of Liberty Surf until October 1st.
Diego Massidda, 39 years old, has been CEO of Tiscali South Africa since August 2003. With an international business management background, prior to joining Tiscali Mr. Massidda worked as a civil engineer in Johannesburg between 1990 and 1995. He then spent a year in France doing an MBA, followed by six years in Italy as a senior manager at McKinsey.
Jean-Michel Soulier has been appointed as Deputy General Manager of Liberty Surf, and will support Diego Massidda in managing the Company. After having been Deputy General Manager in charge of the B2C business within Tiscali France, he left the company for an experience as entrepreneur and founder of IDEOTEL. Previously, Jean-Michel had been General Manager of World Online France. Prior to that he held various financial and business development positions with telecom operators such as France Telecom, Bouygues and US West.
“I am convinced that Diego and Jean-Michel represent the best management team to ensure continuity and to maximise Tiscali’s potential in the fast growing but highly competitive French market”, continues Ruud Huisman, CEO of Tiscali Group.
About Tiscali
Tiscali S.p.A., (Nuovo Mercato, Milan: TIS, Nouveau Marché, Paris: 005773), is the European Internet Communication Company providing broadband and narrowband access for consumer and business applications as well as innovative communications services and contents. As of 30th June 2004, Tiscali had 7.9 million active users of whom 1.44 million were broadband customers, growing steadily. Tiscali's corporate website can be found at www.tiscali.com.
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