Xavier Niel ( French: Xavier Niel ; born August 25, 1967 , Creteil , France ) is a French billionaire known as the founder and majority shareholder of the French telecommunications group Iliad (63.93% of the shares). [1] He is also a co-owner of Le Monde and owns part of the rights to the song “ My Way ”. Currently, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director of Strategy at Iliad. [2] Since April 2011, member of the National Digital Council ( French Conseil national du numérique, CNN ).
Xavier Niel | |
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fr. Xavier niel | |
Xavier Niel in September 2009 | |
Date of Birth | August 25, 1967 (51 years old) |
Place of Birth | Creteus |
Citizenship | France |
Company | Iliad |
Position | Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director for Strategy |
Company | Le monde |
Position | shareholder |
According to Forbes magazine, in March 2012, Niel held 7th place in France and 232nd in the world with a fortune of about $ 4.5 billion. [3]
Content
Biography
Xavier Niel was born and raised in Creteil ( department of Val-de-Marne ), near Paris . Father - French Catholic , worked as a consultant on patents in a pharmaceutical company . Mother is Jewish of German descent . At age 14, his father gave Xavier his first computer , the Sinclair ZX81 . At 16, he became interested in the Minitel computer information system, which was the forerunner of the Internet in France. In 1984, Niel began an entrepreneurial career in the field of telecommunications and information services, creating an erotic chat "Pink Minitel" ( French Minitel rose ). [4] In 1987, he dropped out of preparatory class, deciding not to go to university, but to concentrate on work in the service sector in the Minitel network. [5] In 1991, Xavier bought the company Fermic Multimedia, later renamed Iliad . [6] In 1995, he created Worldnet, the first Internet service provider in France. In December 2000, Niel sold the company for 40 million euros.
In 1998, Xavier created a new company - Free . In 2002, she made a breakthrough in the French telecommunications market, starting to provide three services at a low price on one broadband cable - high-speed Internet access , cable TV and telephone . In 2012, Iliad ranked second in France for providing broadband Internet access (Free and Alice brands), with about 4.5 million subscribers, about 23% of the market. The group earned 99.3% of its net sales revenue from Internet services (Internet access, cable TV on ADSL, web hosting (Online.net, 2nd place in France), domain name registration, etc.) , the remaining 0.7% gave other lines of business (fixed telephone services (One.Tel and Iliad Telecom) and call termination (Kedra), catalog services and Assunet.com insurance broker). As a result, the company's capitalization exceeds 6.1 billion euros. [one]
Developing Internet services, Nielle simultaneously invested in peep shows and sex shops in Paris and Alsace . In 2009, along with other investors, he bought the rights to the songs of Claude Francois , including My Way. In addition, Xavier invested in several start-ups : Mediapart and Bakchich information sites, Ateme technology company and Deezer music web service, Square electronic payment service system. A member of the Free Minds holding company, which helped fund Atlantico's news site.
In March 2010, Xavier and Franco- Israeli investor Jeremy Berrebi founded the private equity fund Kima Ventures. [7] From February 2010 to November 2011, the fund invested its funds in 130 companies in 18 countries, making Business Insider named Niel and Berrebi the most active angel investors in the world. [eight]
At the end of 2010, Niel, Mathieu Pig and Pierre Berger acquired for $ 150 million a 64% stake in Le Monde, which was on the verge of bankruptcy . [9] The new owners, after restructuring the company, were able to ensure that Le Monde became profitable for the first time in ten years.
In September 2011, Niel, as well as Jacques-Antoine Grangeon and Marcu Simonchini founded the European School of Internet Professionals ( fr. L`Ecole Europeenne des Metiers de Iinternet, l'EEMI ).
Accusation of Pimping
On May 28, 2004, Xavier Niel was detained on charges of pimping . This happened after a four-year investigation revealed that prostitution was practiced in one of the peep shows in Strasbourg , co-owned by Xavier. On August 30, 2005, investigating judge Reno van Ryumbek dropped the charge of pimping.
On October 27, 2006, the 11th Chamber of the Paris Criminal Court found Niel guilty of concealing a pip show of € 200,000 between 2001 and 2004, sentencing the businessman to two years probation and a fine of € 250,000. In total, during the investigation of the case, Niel spent a month in prison. [ten]
Later this scandal led to the fact that French President Nicolas Sarkozy was unhappy with the deal to sell Le Monde , the world's most popular French-language newspaper. The fact is that its new owners, in addition to Xavier Niel, the owner of sex shops and peep shows, previously accused of prostitution, were Mathieu Pig, known as an associate of Dominique Strauss-Kahn , and Pierre Berger, formerly lover of Yves Saint Laurent .
Rewards
- September 6, 2006 - Le Figaro dedicated two pages to Niel.
- 2007 - Challenges magazine included Niel in the list of "100 Greatest People Who Make the World."
- November 2009 - Niel received the BFM Radio Manager of the Year Award. [eleven]
- February 2011 - GQ magazine called Niel "the most influential person of 2010." [12]
- October 6, 2011 - The second edition of Hub Niel is titled "Personality of the Year in the Digital Industry." [13]
Personal life
Xavier Niel has two children. He is fond of skiing.
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Boursorama: ILIAD (FREE) - Résumé (French)
- ↑ Iliad: Equipe dirigeante Archived February 15, 2012. (fr.)
- ↑ Forbes : “Pprofile. Xavier Niel ”
- ↑ Michel Puech: "Le monde du Minitel se paye Le Monde . " Mediapart 06/20/2010 (fr.)
- ↑ Emmanuel Paquette: “Xavier Niel change de monde . ” L'Express, 09.24.2010 (fr.)
- ↑ Lemonde.fr Archived January 8, 2012 to Wayback Machine (fr.)
- ↑ Kima Ventures (Official site )
- ↑ Business Insider. "The Most Active Angel Investor In The World On Investing Everywhere And Reaching Breakeven Fast . " 03/17/2011
- ↑ The New York Times . "Le Monde Ousts Top Manager . " 12/15/2010 (English)
- ↑ L'Express. "Prison avec sursis pour Xavier Niel . " 10/27/2006 (fr.)
- ↑ Freenews. "Xavier Niel élu Manager 2009 aux BFM Awards . " 11/16/2009 (fr.)
- ↑ Freenews. "Xavier Niel élu homme le plus influent de l'année par GQ . " 02.17.2011 (fr.)
- ↑ Univers Freebox. Xavier Niel reçoit le prix de la "Personnalité Digitale influente de l'année" aux Hub Awards . 10/06/2011 (fr.)
Source
- Claire O'Connor "Father of the French Internet - upstart and billionaire . " Forbes.ru , 03/23/2012