David Lévy

Arithmetic Components had developed very new technology for hardware arithmetic operators design
Set up, first round of financing, and preparation of the second round with a VC. Due to a technical uncertainty, we did not close the round.

Acco is a semiconductor design house in RF and analog designs
Acco was facing bankruptcy when I joined. My mission was to restructure, raise funds and develop the company
When I left, Acco had one year of cash in reserve, was fully booked with orders for the next six months, and Acco was valued 7 M€ in the last round of financing.

Peaktime was dedicated to services and software in ratings optimization for radio, broadcasters and their sales houses, with 200 people and 4 locations.

Peaktime was restructured, and was sold when Vivendi faced major problems, in a very short time frame

When I joined, my mission was to develop Bull-CP8. Due to Bull Group’s financial situation, I had in fact both to develop the entity and to sell one part of it every year.

Revenue for Bull-CP8 was 250 M€ in 1998. It was sold ultimately for 650 M€.

In 2000, Bull-CP8 entered GSM smart card market, and grew from 0 to 8% market share within one year, with no funding from the shareholder.

during my tenure, my main concerns were: the restructuring of the defense industry, the effects of moving from a conscription army to a professional armed force, the review of procurement and program management policy.

EADS has been initiated during this period, and on top of these missions, we made a full cleanup of Giat’s accounts (Giat is the French land forces arms supplier)

I was in charge of French and African mines (3500 people), commercial contracts with EDF (1.3 B€ revenue), and R&D (100 M$ annual budget)
Achievements: When I joined, uranium production cost was 25 $/Lb, much higher than the spot price (7$/Lb). I put in place a system to finance and buy an ore stock, with which we became profitable.
I also shut down one plant and one mining location.

In addition to working on Cogema’s overall strategy, I worked on the French recycling policy for nuclear fuel, the elaboration of French law on nuclear waste, and the merger of Thomson, STMicroelectronics and Cogema.