Linux vendor MandrakeSoft taps new CEO

Linux vendor MandrakeSoft has appointed François Bancilhon CEO of the Paris-based desktop and workstation Linux operating system vendor.

Bancilhon, 54, will replace MandrakeSoft’s co-founder, Jacques Le Marois, who will stay on as chairman and president, the company said Monday.

Bancilhon comes to MandrakeSoft after founding or leading a series of start-up companies in Europe and the U.S. One venture he founded was O2 Technology, a database company he sold in 1997.

Bancilhon said in a statement that his main focus will be to bring MandrakeSoft to profitability. For the third fiscal quarter of 2002, MandrakeSoft reported a net loss of about €940,000 ($931,070) on €1.6 million in revenue. The company hasn’t turned a quarterly net profit since the fourth fiscal quarter of 1999, but has been steadily reducing its losses, according to its financial records.

Separately Monday, SuSE Linux announced that it would replace its CEO. Richard Seibt, a former IBM executive will replace Gerhard Burtscher, the current CEO who joined the company in December 2001. Seibt is expected to take the helm late January, according to a statement from SuSE.

Both Linux vendors noted that the new appointments come following long restructuring efforts. SuSE, for example, reorganized its sales and marketing divisions over the past year, as well as collaborated on the launch of a new server OS known as UnitedLinux.