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France Telecom Scandal

France Telecom (FTE) Chronology of Events (choose date for trade) oldest to newest newest to oldest	ticker for trade in other company
1999-04-01: Alliance with Deutsche Telekom breaks down over a row over strategy in Italy.
1999-07-01: France Telecom makes an ill-fated investment in cable operator NTL .
2000-02-01: France Telecom bids in a "beauty contest" for one of four French UMTS licences. The initial price is 4.95 billion euros, although the government will eventually slash this price.
2000-03-02: France Telecom shares close at an all-time high of 219 euros, giving it a market capitalisation of around 224 billion euros. A steady two-and-a-half year slide is to follow as the telecoms and technology stock bubble bursts.
2000-03-23: France Telecom takes a 28.5 percent stake in German operator mobile MobilCom in exchange for investing 3.7 billion euros to pay for a 3G mobile licence in its home market.
2000-05-29: France Telecom pays $37 billion in cash and stock to buy UK mobile operator Orange from Vodafone and merge it with its Itineris business. The deal means taking on Orange's debt and arranging a loan for its 3G licence in Britain.
2000-07-18: France Telecom pays 2.08 billion euros to buy 18.9 percent of Italian operator Wind from Deutsche Telecom, bringing its stake in Wind to 43.4 percent.
2000-07-19: France Telecom floats 10 percent of its Internet service provider unit Wanadoo at 19 euros per share, valuing the unit at around 19 billion euros.
2000-08-01: MobilCom successfully bids for one of six German 3G licences and shells out 8.4 billion euros for it. A consortium of banks lend MobilCom the extra 4.7 billion and France Telecom agrees to bankroll its early 3G development.
2000-11-01: France Telecom announces a deal to buy network provider Equant , merge it with its Global One unit and take a controlling 54 percent stake.
2000-12-01: France Telecom sells its 1.8 percent stake in Deutsche Telekom, closing the door on a strained relationship.
2001-02-23: France Telecom floats 15 percent of "New Orange," keeping 85 percent, in an IPO that values the mobile giant at 48 billion euros -- a third of what it once hoped for.
2001-09-01: France Telecom posts a 49 percent drop in first-half profit, hit by debt charges and integrating Equant.
2001-10-16: France sweetens the terms of its 3G UMTS licences, extending the licence duration by five years to 20 years and slashing fees to an eighth of their initial size.
2001-11-01: France Telecom sells 2.97 billion euros worth of real estate and raises 3.5 billion euros in Europe's largest ever sale of equity-linked debt.
2002-02-01: A row with MobilCom over investments in new mobile technology escalates into an ugly slanging match that threaten's France Telecom's future in Europe's biggest mobile market. MobilCom threatens to sue its estranged partner over an alleged breach of contract as the rift between them deepens.
2002-03-06: A crisis meeting in Hamburg between France Telecom and MobilCom fails to settle their feud.
2002-03-21: France Telecom unveils what was then the second-largest loss in French history, with huge writedowns for shrunken assets like Equant, NTL and MobilCom knocking it to an 8.3 billion euro net loss. Its debt reaches 60.7 billion euros.
2002-06-11: France Telecom tears up its cooperation pact with MobilCom.
2002-06-20: France Telecom strikes a verbal accord with banks to swap MobilCom's 4.7 billion euro debt into securities convertible into France Telecom or Orange stock. The accord, which would pave the way for a takeover, hinges on securing a similar loan deal with MobilCom suppliers Nokia and Ericsson.
2002-06-21: MobilCom's supervisory board bows to France Telecom's wishes and sacks founder and CEO Gerhard Schmid. Schmid subsequently claims France Telecom is bound by law to make a takeover bid because it has taken de facto control.
2002-06-26: France Telecom sells a further 510 million euros of real estate, days after having its credit rating cut to just one notch above "junk" status by Moody's.
2002-07-01: Speculation flares up briefly, after a media relations gaffe, that France Telecom could be renationalised.
2002-07-05: Ratings agency Fitch follows Moody's lead and cuts France Telecom to one notch above "junk" status.
2002-07-30: MobilCom's 17 creditor banks extend the repayment deadline on the operator's 4.7 billion euro debt, giving France Telecom an extra two months to seal a debt accord.
2002-08-29: France Telecom, saddled with debt at more than five times its market value and a 75 percent slide in its share price since the start of the year, postpones its board meeting and first-half results until mid-September.
2002-09-05: French government pledges to support France Telecom as speculation swirls that it could be forced into a dilutive capital increase and that massive losses could trigger the ouster of Michel Bon.
2002-09-11: Bankers put together a 15 billion euro rights issue to recapitalise France Telecom but the plan is left in the air as Bon, who opposes it, struggles to save his job. Other options include a state-guaranteed loan or bond issue.
2002-09-12: Matters come to a head at a four-hour board meeting at which Bon says he will resign. In his parting shot, France Telecom axes support for MobilCom and takes 11 billion euros in provisions, driving it to a first-half net loss of 12.2 billion euros. In Germany, MobilCom workers stage protests. The government, which now owns 55 percent of France Telecom, says that whoever takes over from Bon will propose a "very susbtantial" balance sheet strengthening and vows the state will play its part. It pledges short-term funding support if needed. France Telecom shares close beforehand at 10.6 euros, valuing the fallen telecoms giant at less than 13 billion euros.

France Telecom (FTE) Chronology of Events

France Telecom (FTE)
Chronology of Events