Vincent Bolloré

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Vincent Bolloré
Festival automobile international 2014 - Photocall - 103.jpg
Born (1952-04-01) 1 April 1952 (age 69)
Boulogne-Billancourt, France
EducationLycée Janson-de-Sailly
Alma materParis Nanterre University
OccupationBusinessman
TitleChairman and CEO, Bolloré
Spouse(s)Anaïs Jeanneret
Children4

Vincent Bolloré (born 1 April 1952) is a French billionaire businessman. He is the chairman and CEO of the investment group Bolloré.[2]

Early life[]

Bolloré was born in Boulogne-Billancourt. He attended the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly, before graduating with a business degree from Université Paris X Nanterre. Bolloré started his career as an investment bank trainee at Edmond de Rothschild.[3]

Career[]

Bolloré's personal investment career began when he took over at his family-controlled conglomerate Bolloré,[4] which deals in maritime freight and African trade, and paper manufacturing (cigarette and bible paper). Bolloré employs 33,000 people worldwide. He is a well-known corporate raider in France who has succeeded in making money by taking large stakes in French listed companies, in particular the building and construction group Bouygues, where he left with a sizeable capital gain after a power struggle. He pulled a similar move with French video game company Ubisoft, owning an approximate 27% stake in the company in 2016, before Ubisoft president Yves Guillemot maneuvered a deal to have a coalition of Tencent Games, among other companies, to buy out Bolloré's shares for about $2.45 billion.[5][citation needed]

In late 2004, his investment group started building a stake in advertising group Havas, becoming its largest single shareholder. He mounted a coup and replaced Alain de Pouzilhac as CEO in July 2005. In 2005, through his family company, he expanded his media interests by launching the Direct 8 television station. Towards the end of 2005, he began building a stake in independent British media planning and buying group, Aegis. As of July 2006, his stake in Aegis stood at 29%.[6]  [fr], a free newspaper, was launched in June 2006.[citation needed] In January 2008, he manifested interest in becoming a shareholder of famed, but troubled, Italian car manufacturer Pininfarina.[citation needed] In 2014, as Vivendi president he decided to invest in the Italian telecom company Telecom Italia and in the Italian broadcaster, Mediaset, controlled by Berlusconi family’s holding company Fininvest.[7]

The Bolloré Group also has important positions in the economies of several former French colonies in Africa (in particular Ivory Coast, Gabon, Cameroon, and Congo).[8][9][10] On 24 April 2018, Bolloré was brought into custody for questioning concerning perceived links between discount rates for political consulting (through Havas) and port concessions in Lomé, Togo; and Conakry, Guinea. He was subsequently indicted for "corruption of foreign agents", "falsification of documents", and "complicity in breach of trust".[11] If found guilty, he could face a maximum fine of €1 million and up to 10 years' imprisonment.[12]

Personal life[]

He has four children from his first union: Sébastien, Yannick, Cyrille and Marie. He is married to Anaïs Jeanneret, a French writer.

He is ranked 499th-richest person in the world, according to Bloomberg, with an estimated fortune of US$5.27 billion.[13]

He is a close personal friend of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. It has been said that their friendship goes back over 20 years.[14] Sarkozy has been criticized for accepting vacations from Bolloré, as was president Georges Pompidou with his father, .[citation needed] They have both stated that no conflict of interest exists.[citation needed]

References[]

  1. ^ "Forbes profile: Vincent Bollore". Bloomberg. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  2. ^ "Vincent Bolloré: Executive Profile & Biography - Businessweek". investing.businessweek.com. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
  3. ^ "Vincent Bollore". Forbes. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  4. ^ "Stocks". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  5. ^ "Vivendi's Attempt At A Hostile Takeover Of Ubisoft Is Over". Kotaku.
  6. ^ "Aegis' Major Shareholders". Hemscott Group Ltd. 19 July 2006.
  7. ^ Fiorina Capozzi, "Vincent Bolloré, the new king of European media", Goware-Key4biz, 2016
  8. ^ Martine Orange (2 February 2009). "Enquête sur la face cachée de l'empire Bolloré". Mediapart (in French). Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  9. ^ Thomas Deltombe (1 April 2009). "Port, rail, plantations : le triste bilan de Bolloré au Cameroun". Le Monde diplomatique (in French). Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  10. ^ Fanny Pigeaud (11 March 2008). "Les Camerounais exploités des palmeraies de Bolloré". Libération (in French). Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  11. ^ Simon Piel; Joan Tilouine (25 April 2018). "Concessions portuaires en Afrique : Vincent Bolloré mis en examen". Le Monde. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  12. ^ Cécile De Sèze (26 April 2018). "Mis en examen, que risque Vincent Bolloré?". RTL. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  13. ^ Bloomberg Billionaire Index (6 January 2020). "Vincent Bollore profile page on Bloomberg.com". Bloomberg LP.
  14. ^ "Bolloré, un financier avec qui copiner". Libération. 10 May 2007.

External links[]

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