Orange weighs selling up to 50% of its French data centers as funds circle; Figma buys Bud; Accenture confirms hack

Orange, France’s largest telecom operator, is drawing fresh interest from investment funds for its French data center business as demand climbs for cloud computing and AI. Multiple Anglo-American business outlets have reported in recent days that Orange is exploring selling a stake in part of the unit—rather than an outright sale—at a valuation in the hundreds of millions of euros.

At the same time, the broader tech sector kept moving: design platform Figma said it is acquiring Bud, and consulting giant Accenture confirmed it was targeted in a cyberattack and has launched remediation steps.

Orange is looking at a partial sale—up to 50%, Bloomberg reports

Talks around Orange’s data centers are focused on a capital deal, not a full exit. Bloomberg reported that Orange is seeking to raise between €400 million and €500 million (about $432 million to $540 million) by selling a stake of up to 50% in a business that groups several sites in France, including what is described as a major facility in Normandy.

The process is being advised by Evercore, according to people described as close to the discussions. Orange has not publicly detailed the exact perimeter of the assets involved or the timeline.

In 2026, fund interest in digital infrastructure is far from niche. Data centers can offer recurring revenue, multi-year contracts, and high barriers to entry—land, power connections, and long administrative lead times. Demand pressure is also rising from generative AI use cases and the push to bring back—or duplicate—data within Europe.

In that context, bringing in minority financial partners can let an operator partially monetize an asset without giving up operational control.

For Orange, a partial sale can also reflect the strategic nature of these facilities. Many data center customers—businesses, public-sector organizations, and essential services—expect continuity aligned with sovereignty, security, and compliance requirements. Keeping control of operations, customer relationships, and certain investments can be seen as stabilizing, while sharing the cost of expansions and upgrades, particularly around energy, compute density, and cooling systems.

The market is also watching how Orange balances two paths: selling a slice of existing assets, or bringing in a partner to accelerate a colocation offering with a model closer to a telecom tower operator. Recent European deals have shown these assets can command high valuations when commercial visibility, access to electricity, and real-estate quality line up.

Christel Heydemann and Nicolas Royer talk up opening the sites to third parties

Alongside the partial-sale chatter, Orange has been emphasizing a different approach: activating its existing assets. In comments picked up by international trade press, the group said it wants to open its data centers to third parties, on a model comparable to its tower subsidiary Totem.

As described, the idea is to better monetize infrastructure already in place by bringing in more colocation customers and tapping into demand momentum across the European market.

The messaging matters because it complicates a purely financial read. Under that framing, the goal would not be to sell to address a debt constraint, but to position the company for a growth wave tied to AI, hybrid cloud, and expanding data-localization requirements. That posture mirrors what several large telecom groups are pursuing: keep critical assets while industrializing hosting as a central link in digital supply chains.

Execution, however, is the hard part. Opening data centers to third parties requires a structured sales approach, a coherent services catalog, strict service-level commitments, and the ability to invest in power and network capacity. For a telecom operator, that can create synergies—fiber, backbone, managed services—but it also forces tradeoffs on capital priorities, specialized hiring, and competition with established colocation players.

The strategy also runs into local constraints. Land and energy have become political issues, with connection delays and debates over consumption. Some sites can become flashpoints for safety or public acceptance. In Marseille, Orange’s Saint-Mauront site drew attention earlier amid a closure reported by local press tied to security issues. Even if that episode doesn’t define Orange’s broader footprint, it underscores how operating technical sites depends on on-the-ground conditions—access, security, continuity, and relationships with local authorities.

Figma buys Bud to deepen its design and creation toolkit

In a separate move, Figma is continuing its expansion through acquisitions with the purchase of Bud, a deal mentioned in multiple market roundups and telex items. Figma, known for its collaborative design platform, is looking to strengthen its ecosystem amid intense competition in creation, prototyping, and content-production tools.

Financial terms were not detailed in the available information, but the move fits a strategy of integrating products and expertise.

Figma’s pitch centers on bringing design, collaboration, and delivery together for product teams, smoothing handoffs among designers, developers, and decision-makers. The Bud acquisition is presented as a way to accelerate that trajectory by adding technology building blocks or know-how that could strengthen the offering.

Across the sector, tie-ups are often driven by faster time-to-market or by efforts to capture emerging usage tied to automation, component libraries, and AI-assisted workflows.

The deal lands as companies continue to rationalize software budgets. IT leaders are pushing for more integrated tools with less redundancy and clearer governance over access and content. For Figma, deeper functionality can help it remain central inside product organizations and reduce the risk that certain tasks migrate to competing suites.

Security is also part of the equation: permissions management, change traceability, version retention—sensitive issues for distributed teams and compliance-bound projects.

In the near term, market attention will focus on integration—roadmap, compatibility, pricing policy, and continuity for Bud users. Software acquisitions can fail when products remain side-by-side; successful integration can create a platform effect, increasing value per user and strengthening negotiating power with large enterprise customers.

Accenture confirms a hack and steps up cybersecurity response

Accenture confirmed it was targeted in a hack, according to information circulated in telex reports and picked up by specialized outlets. The company said it initiated response actions, including containment and investigation measures.

In incidents like this, official communications are often cautious because impact analysis—affected systems, potentially exfiltrated data, and the initial access path—can take time and require both internal and external teams.

For a consulting and digital services firm, exposure is structural. Accenture runs complex environments, works across a wide range of clients, and handles sensitive information—methods, technical documentation, contractual materials, and sometimes production data depending on the engagement. Even a contained attack raises questions about system segmentation, identity management, multi-factor authentication, anomaly detection, and the ability to quickly isolate compromised accounts or devices.

The case also reflects a broader pattern: attackers often favor organizations that sit in the middle. By hitting a service provider, they may hope to reach a network of clients indirectly or obtain information useful for later attacks. That’s why supply-chain security—audits, contractual clauses, and compliance evidence—has become a bigger focus.

In 2026, cybersecurity is no longer just a specialist team’s remit; it has become a governance issue tracked by executive leadership and, in many large groups, by the board of directors.

In the coming weeks, attention will turn to the exact nature of the attack—credential theft, vulnerability exploitation, intrusion via a third party—and to the measures announced, such as password rotations, tightened access controls, deployment of detection tools, log reviews, and user support. For clients, the key question will be whether there is any operational impact and what additional precautions may be needed on active projects.