OVHcloud founder Klaba returns as CEO amid 1 billion euros revenue milestone

By Leo Marchandon (Reuters) -OVHcloud, Europe's largest cloud provider, announced that French-Polish founder Octave Klaba has returned as CEO effective immediately, after the board decided to merge the chairman and CEO roles. The move coincides with the company surpassing 1 billion euros ($1.17 billion) in annual revenue for the first time. Klaba, who led the company from its founding in 1999 until 2018 before becoming chairman, will oversee operations as OVHcloud addresses rising demand for artificial intelligence services and growing emphasis on cloud independence amid geopolitical shifts. He replaces Benjamin Revcolevschi, who had been CEO since 2024. "We see a world that is fragmenting. The 'globalized world' is not there anymore," Klaba told Reuters, highlighting the company's focus on developing its own solutions and ensuring supply chain control. The company remains committed to global expansion, citing client demand in other countries such as Canada, Singapore and India. OVHcloud reported a 9.3% increase in revenue to 1.08 billion euros for fiscal year 2025, with an adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) margin of 40.4%. Net debt rose to 1.1 billion euros as of August 2025, largely due to a share buyback plan, CFO Stephanie Besnier said. The company said it has 242 million euros in liquidity to support development plans through 2030. Revenue distribution showed Private Cloud sales grew 8.5% and contributed 62% of the total. Public Cloud revenue was up 17.5%, accounting for 20% of sales, while Webcloud revenue increased 3.7% to make up the remaining 18%. OVHcloud now serves nearly 1,200 clients generating over 100,000 euros in annual recurring revenue as it competes with U.S. rivals Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. For 2026, OVHcloud targets organic revenue growth of 5% to 7%, below this year's 9.3% as it aims to strengthen its Webcloud segment. The company also targets an adjusted EBITDA margin exceeding FY2025 levels, with capital expenditure projected at 30% to 32% of revenue. While declining to comment on discussions with the European Commission, the company acknowledged a 180 million euro tender launched by the bloc on October 10 for cloud infrastructure. "It takes time, but we're happy to see the market is moving in the right direction," Klaba said. ($1 = 0.8575 euros) (Reporting by Leo Marchandon; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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