Vincent Bolloré

Vincent Bolloré (b. April 1, 1952 in Boulogne-Billancourt, France) is a French industrialist, corporate raider and businessman.

He heads the family investment group Bolloré and is ranked 451st richest person in the world according to Forbes, with an estimated fortune of US$1.7 billion [cite web | url = http://www.forbes.com//lists/2006/10/Europe_&_Russia_Rank_7.html| title = The World's Richest People |date = March 9, 2006 | publisher = Forbes Magazine |work = Luisa Kroll and Allison Fass ] . He is married, with 4 children.

Biography

Vincent Bolloré is from a well-off family from Brittany, and he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from . Bolloré started his investment career as a bank trainee at investment bank Edmond de Rothschild.

His personal investment career began when he took over the reins at his family-controlled conglomerate Bolloré, which deals in maritime freight and African trade, and paper manufacturing (cigarette and bible paper). The company he leads today employs 33,000 people around the world.

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.

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 Havas Chief Executive Officer on July 12, 2005.

In 2005, through his family company, Bolloré 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 at 19 July, 2006, his stake in Aegis stood at 29% [cite web | url = http://www.aegisplc.com/aegis/shareholderinfo/hmajshare.asp| title = Aegis' Major Shareholders |date = 19 July, 2006 | publisher = Hemscott Group Ltd ] . Direct Soir, a free newspaper, was launched in June 2006. In January 2008, he manifested interest in becoming a shareholder of famed, but troubled, Italian car manufacturer Pininfarina.

He is a close personal friend of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. It has been told that their friendship goes back over 20 years [cite web | url =http://www.liberation.fr/actualite/politiques/252842.FR.php.| title = Bolloré, un financier avec qui copiner| date = 10 May, 2007 | publisher = liberation ] Sarkozy has been criticized for accepting vacations from Bolloré; however, both have insisted that no conflict of interest exists.

ee also

* French Rich List

References

External links

* [http://www.bollore.com/ official site of Bolloré group]
* [http://www.axa-im-talents.com/index.cfm?pagepath=Entrepreneurs Vincent Bolloré] AXA Talents (www.axa-im-talents.com) (September 7th 2006)