Mangas COO: no Expekt job cuts, 100 hires in 2010
Mangas chief operating officer Nicolas Béraud has denied that the French gaming group will make job cuts at the Betclic and Expekt businesses in the wake of the sacking of Expekt chief executive Per Widerström and chief financial officer Joe Sanchez last month, and has pledged to hire a further 100 staff, EGRmagazine.com can reveal exclusively....
MANGAS CHIEF operating officer Nicolas Béraud has denied that the French gaming group will make job cuts at the Betclic and Expekt businesses it acquired in the last 18 months, and has pledged to hire a further 100 staff.
The pledge, which follows the sacking of Expekt chief executive Per Widerström and chief financial officer Joe Sanchez last month, was made in an interview with eGaming Review to feature in the February edition of the magazine, in which Béraud discusses synergies and efficiency gains in integrating the three businesses, but denies that these will include lay-offs.
Béraud (pictured above right speaking at EGR Live 2009) said: “What synergies mean, as an example, is that instead of dealing with suppliers and service providers individually, we can do that at group level from now on. When it comes to marketing, we are now able to share the campaigns across the group and use our scale to generate maximum returns. But it absolutely does not mean job and cost cuts, and [that] is it not at all what the Mangas board has been asking for.”
The Mangas COO, who began that role in May, is also chief executive of Mangas-owned operator Betclic and interim chief executive at Expekt till a permanent replacement for Widerström is found, continued that the business would instead continue a series of hires already begun with the acquisitions.
“We’ll be hiring 100 extra staff next year, and we’ve already recruited more than 150 staff at group level. We’re not in the mindset of cutting jobs: we’re very much in growth mode and that dictates all our thinking. We need everyone, and that includes the staff at Expekt,” he said.
Béraud was also quizzed on Mangas’ decision to sack Widerstrom and Sanchez, and explained that this was due “to different strategic views in how to move Expekt forward”.
“It was to do with how it was managed, not putting in place the right synergies and best practice. It was also about results, which weren’t up to what we wanted. I was therefore asked with Thomas [Winter, Betclic chief operating officer] and the new management team to put in place the best practices and habits that have made Betclic and Bet-At-Home successful.”
In other company news recently, Mangas bought a controlling stake in Everest Gaming.
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