It’s now official, Marc Murtra is the new executive president of Telefónica after the resignation of José María Álvarez-Pallete. An industrial engineer from the Higher Technical School of Industrial Engineers of Barcelona, he has the support of the Government to direct the new stage of the operator.
Just a few hours after learning of the Government’s decision to replace the former president of the company, the operator has just sent an official statement where the Board of Directors of the operator agrees on the ordered renewal to adapt it to its new shareholding.
Who is Marc Murtra?
Marc Thomas Murtra Millar (Barcelona 52 years ago), is an Industrial Engineer and has been at the head of Indra since 2021 and has held an important role in other companies. Since 2022 he has also been an independent director of Ebro Foods, a company in which SEPI also has participation. “We are facing a great executive, intelligent and very close to the Catalan Socialist Party,” say sources from the sector.
With this appointment, the Government has ended the mandate of José María Álvarez-Pallete, who has been the only president who has not been appointed by an executive. Since the privatization of the company, Villalonga and César Alierta had the approval of previous governments. As of today, Telefónica has reduced the majestic debt that Pallete inherited, but there are gray areas that have affected the company’s price. The terrible management of Latin America and the poor performance of Germany have been two factors that have impacted the company’s price, which today is around 22,000 million, far from the more than 40,000 million that it capitalized when Pallete replaced César Alierta.
The arrival of Murtra to the presidency will entail significant changes. It is still early to make pools, but the departure of managers related to the former president is more than discounted. Sources consulted confirm that Telefónica’s communication will be one of the areas with a comprehensive renovation. During the last few years, the company has opted exclusively for institutional communication, leaving aside the business, which is what really matters to the markets and investors. The “hot potato” of Latin America will be another of the challenges that Murtra will have to address. With markets in free fall and currencies depreciating at high speed, an orderly exit from all markets with the exception of Brazil would not be unreasonable.
From ADSLZone we wish all the luck in the world to Murtra and of course to José María Álvarez-Pallete who has been a close manager and who has always treated us with the respect that we deserved as the main telecommunications medium in Spain. We cannot say the same about Eva Fernández, Director of Communication, who has ignored us since we arrived at the operator.
