Atari founder Bruno Bonnell leaves, enter Patrick Leleu

Atari and Infogrames big boss Bruno Bonnell has left all of his position within the company he built. Yesterday’s Infogrames board meeting netted the promotion of Patrick Leleu as the new chairman and CEO.

Bruno Bonnell (together with Christophe Sapet and Thomas Schmider) founded Infogrames in 1983, after which it acquired GT Interactive and Hasbro Interactive – along with Atari and Game.com. With Bonnell leaving Infogrames, he also leaves his two positions in Atari: chairman and chief creative officer.

Infogrames had been implementing a “global debt restructuring plan” that ended in March 2007. Remember when David Pierce stepped up as CEO of Atari last year? Looks like Atari and Infogrames are back on the steady track financially. The revamp was done to stabilize and strengthen the company’s finances and “redevelop its business”. Bonnell had this to say:

It is with understandable emotions, but also reassured about its future, that I leave Infogrames after 24 years spent to build this group with the support of all its teams. Together, we have been able to show its strength and capacity to innovate, even in the worst situations. Time for business developers has logically come, after the entrepreneurial period. ItÂ’s now time for Infogrames to conquer and progress on a market as promising as interactive entertainment business.

The Board seems to have a lot of confidence on the new guy, Patrick Leleu who has been a director in the company since January of this year. He was previously the CEO of Bouygues Telecom and Noos before stepping up into Bruno Bonnell’s shoes. Leleu comments, “I want to thank the Board to put its trust in me. I am convinced that Infogrames holds the assets, talents and teams to get back into the industrial competition and recover its  dynamics of growth.”

Atari and Infogrames big boss Bruno Bonnell has left all of his position within the company he built. Yesterday’s Infogrames board meeting netted the promotion of Patrick Leleu as the new chairman and CEO.

Bruno Bonnell (together with Christophe Sapet and Thomas Schmider) founded Infogrames in 1983, after which it acquired GT Interactive and Hasbro Interactive – along with Atari and Game.com. With Bonnell leaving Infogrames, he also leaves his two positions in Atari: chairman and chief creative officer.

Infogrames had been implementing a “global debt restructuring plan” that ended in March 2007. Remember when David Pierce stepped up as CEO of Atari last year? Looks like Atari and Infogrames are back on the steady track financially. The revamp was done to stabilize and strengthen the company’s finances and “redevelop its business”. Bonnell had this to say:

It is with understandable emotions, but also reassured about its future, that I leave Infogrames after 24 years spent to build this group with the support of all its teams. Together, we have been able to show its strength and capacity to innovate, even in the worst situations. Time for business developers has logically come, after the entrepreneurial period. ItÂ’s now time for Infogrames to conquer and progress on a market as promising as interactive entertainment business.

The Board seems to have a lot of confidence on the new guy, Patrick Leleu who has been a director in the company since January of this year. He was previously the CEO of Bouygues Telecom and Noos before stepping up into Bruno Bonnell’s shoes. Leleu comments, “I want to thank the Board to put its trust in me. I am convinced that Infogrames holds the assets, talents and teams to get back into the industrial competition and recover its  dynamics of growth.”