December 2023

He was the father of the computer giant Atos. And at 79 years old, this boss was still the chairman of the board of directors of Worldline, a specialist in electronic payments and a former subsidiary of the group. Bernard Bourigeaud passed away on Thursday, announced the management of Worldline, which he joined in 2020, following its merger with Ingenico.

Expressing their sadness, the group praised a “huge entrepreneur”. A hard worker, the man was discreet, secretive, without the slightest Who’s Who file. This father, who also chaired the Deloitte firm in France, was 47 years old when he took the reins of Atos in 1991, only leaving in 2007.

IT Musketeer

When he arrived, the company had a turnover of 300 million euros and had 3,000 employees. Seventeen years later, the IT services and payments group had a turnover of 5 billion euros and had 55,000 employees in 50 countries. The momentum was given: Atos today employs more than 100,000 people for 11 billion euros.

“Like Serge Kampf or Pierre Pasquier, Bernard was one of those IT musketeers who enabled France to create world-class giants,” says Gilles Grapinet, Managing Director of Worldline. His life’s work was building businesses. »

Beginnings in auditing

Born in Bordeaux, one spring day in 1944, this chartered accountant, with a degree in economics, had started out in auditing. And he retained a taste for Africa from his military service, carried out in Senegal as technical advisor to the Ministry of Finance. And the world, in general. “He seemed at ease in all cultures,” continues Gilles Grapinet. Very early on, he had this vision of playing the European card.”

After a stint at the CIC, Bernard Bourigeaud was recruited by the British firm PriceWaterhouse (now PwC). In 1972, he joined the cereal trading group Continental Grain, which then crowned him director of internal audit Europe, before promoting him, in 1975 and notably in the United Kingdom, to general manager. Just 31 years old.

The creation of Axime

It is at Deloitte in Paris that this great lover of Cuban cigars, crazy regarding tennis which he played in large doses and at a high level, will continue his journey. And it was in June 1991 that his career took off, when he helped to merge three companies (SITB, Sodinforg and Segin) to create the company Axime of which he became president.

From then on, with gusto, Bernard Bourigeaud embarked on a series of buyouts. In 1996, Axime acquired Sligos. The new group will take the name Atos. At the end of 2000, he eyed, with his hazel eyes, the IT branch of Philips called Origin. Then swallows KPMG’s activity in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The acquisition of SchlumbergerSema in 2004 will complete the transformation of the group he manages.

He moves quickly, very quickly, convinced that success is a matter of execution. Three years later, he was fired and replaced by Philippe Germond.

Repurchase of 50,000 shares

Investor in his spare time, administrator of many companies and professor affiliated with HEC then ESCP, he always had a thirst to pass on things. He joined the payments specialist Ingenico in 2018, first as an independent director then as chairman of the board of directors, until Worldline bought the group in 2020.

Involved until the end, Bernard Bourigeaud acquired 50,000 Worldline shares at the end of October. In 2017, he co-wrote “Management: the simplest ideas are often the best” and, in 2019, “People, the priority of winning companies”. He had just entrusted his latest work to Editions Eyrolles: “The courage of responsible decisions”.

“He paid particular attention to the women and men of the company,” comments Gilles Grapinet. Worldline started as a spin-off from Atos. When he returned in 2020, he received countless messages from early collaborators who said they were happy to see him once more. »

“We are not born a leader,” Bernard Bourigeaud once confided to “Les Echos,” “we become one. Particularly by cultivating the tastes of others. Your achievements will be forgotten. Your relationships are immortal.”