Tom Alexander ruled from England 's largest mobile phone company has created one years after the merger of Orange and T-Mobile

Tom Alexander, CEO of Orange and T-Mobile was the leader of Britain 's largest mobile phone company just a year after it was created resigned.

Alexander spearheaded the merger of the UK's third and fourth-biggest mobile operators to create the market leader, Everything Everywhere, which operates the mobiles of 28 million Britons. But on Monday he shocked the City by saying he was leaving the company for "personal reasons".

Alexander, founded the Virgin Mobile in 1998, has been at the forefront of the UK 's mobile phone industry for more than a quarter century. He will step down from the top job at Everything Everywhere at the end of August.

The 50-year-old, who races sports cars in his spare time, was delivered with the transformation of the two ailing brands into a single power plant, has been accused of ? 3.5bn of cost savings to its owner, France Telecom and German Telekom. But not everything has gone according to plan and the company saw a significant decline in new customers in the first three months of the year, together with a 2% decline in earnings.

In an interview before last year's winner 's merger Alexander, who was previously head of the France Telecom-owned Orange in the UK, admitted that the company is pleased' s owner would be a hard task.

"We 're a UK company with two very strong European shareholders. It' Sat know a lot of weight on my shoulders, but it 's an area I really good. That's what I love. I think we have a fantastic opportunity to make this work, "he said.

Alexander, who recently missed a glitzy party to celebrate Everything Everwhere's first birthday, said he was "proud" of what the company had achieved.

"It 's an honor for me, Everything Everywhere in the last 12 months, and orange before that had been used to \," he said. "I 'm proud of what we' ve achieved: We have a rapid integration of new business, completing a company-wide restructuring and maintained good commercial dynamism during and provides retention periods, levels and growth in our subscriber base through both brands.

"There is never an easy time to find a company that you rely too much at heart, but for personal reasons, I feel now is a good moment to take a step back."

Alexander, who has more than ? 20 million from the IPO of Virgin Mobile collected in 2004, already from the corporate world, even in retirement - if Virgin Mobile was sold NTL in 2006.

After a year on improving his lap times at Le Mans and the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Alexander, was again invited by Didier Lombard, the former chairman and chief executive, to revive their ailing British economy.

To develop Alexander, who owns a fleet of classic and sports car with a Lotus Elan, a Porsche, Lamborghini and Aston Martin, not his reasons for leaving the company. Everything Everywhere pointed out that he has a young family has lived in Somerset.

The company refused to state how much money Alexander will collect upon leaving.

Industry sources said they expected that he followed out the door by a "wave" of leaders, particularly ex-Virgin staff, he designed in.

It is understood that German Telekom and France Telecom have become frustrated over the pace of change at Everything Everywhere.

Olaf Swantee, a high-flying executive replaces France Telecom, Alexander. The Dutchman is currently head of France Telecom 's European mobile business.

The shareholders are understood to be told Everything Everywhere 's management that they were no longer willing to financially support them to have. Everything Everywhere 's finance director, Richard Moat, refers to investors before touring a large loan.

Everything Everywhere in the headlines last year when it was announced that the company uses a "traffic" color-code system to inform about 1,200 employees that they faced redundancy.

In another public relations gaffe, said the company has 40 employees, they were able to keep their night shift call center jobs - but only if they moved into a new office in the Philippines. Everything everywhere was forced to apologize.

• The name created out of Orange and T-Mobile's merger joins Consignia (Royal Mail), Aviva (Norwich Union), Snickers (Marathon) and Monday (PwC) as a much-derided rebranding. Created with Saatchi & Saatchi, Everything Everywhere became Orange and T-Mobile's official UK corporate identity last year after Tom Alexander, the departing chief executive, gave it the nod. Unveiling the new name, he said it was "very different to what people were expecting – a clever Latin name or some combination of the two brands. But Everything Everywhere does exactly what it says on the side of the box." Almost instantly Alexander was deluged with requests for, well, everything. The company tried to join in the mirth by sending out Everything Everywhere-branded tins of baked beans, cheeseburgers and even a model DeLorean car from the film Back to the Future film franchise.

The company still has time to change his mind about the brand. It gave himself up to the end of 2011 to decide which moniker, and to keep the ditch. The smart money is to survive on orange. Mark Borkowski, a PR and branding expert, says it's not the worst company ever. He says that accolade goes Six Continents, formerly Bass Hotels, soon "Incontinence" means.