Dr. Yitzhak Peterburg, CEO of wireless operator Cellcom, announced his resignation today. His replacement will be former El Al CEO and Hogla-Kimberly CEO Amos Shapira. Peterbury is resigning after three years as CEO, following the transfer of control in the company to Nochi Dankner.
IDB Holding Corp. (TASE: IDBH) subsidiary Discount Investment Corporation’s (TASE: DISI) acquisition of Cellcom was finally closed a few days ago. Discount Investment acquired 34.75% of Cellcom from the Safra group for $720 million, $95 million more than the price at which it acquired the same number of shares from BellSouth (NYSE: BLS). Discount Investment now owns 94.5% of Cellcom.
Peterburg managed Cellcom in a very difficult business environment created by the dispute between the company’s shareholders, but succeeded in creating a significant change. Immediately after his arrival, he streamlined the company, laying off hundreds of employees and drawing a lot of criticism. His measure stopped the slide in the company’s results, and put it back on the road to rapid growth. Peterburg overhauled Cellcom’s service infrastructure and information systems, making them a basis for sustainable growth. Cellcom has undergone another significant change over the past year. With an emphasis on its brand name content, it has regained its position as Israel’s leading and most influential wireless operator.
Another challenge taken up by Peterburg was launching the iMode content platform. Its degree of success will affect the company’s position in the wireless content in the coming years.
At the beginning of this year, Shapira resigned as CEO of El Al Israel Airlines (TASE: ELAL). When it became known that Nochi Dankner was acquiring Cellcom, Shapira’s appointment as CEO of the company, and of the communications group to be formed, was considered natural. Shapira has been studying the communications market in depth in recent months, particularly the wireless market. Shapira faces the great challenge of expanding Cellcom’s business to connect the various communications elements in the group. Above all, Cellcom’s owners expect him to lead Cellcom to higher growth rates that at present, and strengthen its core business, before talking about mergers.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on September 26, 2005