Vincent Bolloré

Vincent Bolloré is a French billionaire businessman. He was the chairman and CEO of the investment group Bolloré until his retirement from the family business in 2022. In September 2023, his net worth was estimated at US$8.6 billion.

Early life and education
Vincent Bolloré was born in Boulogne-Billancourt.

He attended the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly, before graduating with an arts degree from Université Paris X Nanterre. Bolloré started his career as an investment bank trainee at Edmond de Rothschild.

Career
Bolloré's personal investment career began when he took over at his family-controlled conglomerate Bolloré, 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.

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%. Direct Soir, a free newspaper, was launched in June 2006. The newspaper, along with Matin Plus, the free morning edition also run by the Bolloré Group, was criticized for presenting an overly rosy picture of African leaders who partnered with Bolloré's conglomerate. In November 2010, the administrative court of Paris ordered an immediate end to the contract between the RATP and the Bolloré Group allowing the latter to distribute Direct Matin and Direct Soir using newsracks in the Paris subway. The following month Direct Soir ceased publication, due to the evening return from work being spread out over several hours, in contrast to the morning rush hour when papers could be handed out more efficiently.

In January 2008, he showed interest in becoming a shareholder of famed, but troubled, Italian car manufacturer Pininfarina. 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.

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). 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". If found guilty, he could face a maximum fine of €1 million and up to 10 years' imprisonment.

As a result of the Universal Music Group IPO at Euronext Amsterdam, Bolloré came to hold 18 percent of UMG shares.

He officially retired as chair of the family business on 17 February 2022.

Personal life
Yannick Bolloré is his son.

In 2021 Bolloré was the companion of Anaïs Jeanneret, a French writer.

According to Bloomberg, he was among the 250 wealthiest people on the planet with an estimated fortune of US$8.6 billion in 2023.

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

Media engagement
Bolloré has been investing massively in media for several years. He is the main shareholder of the Vivendi media group, which holds a 10-percent stake in Universal Music Group (Bolloré himself owns directly another 18%) in addition to numerous TV stations and newspapers. In 2022 he has also bought the largest private radio station in France, Europe 1 in time for the 2022 French presidential election. A 2022 essay in The New York Times highlighted Bolloré's media influence, noting the prominence given to far-right, "proto-fascist" politician Éric Zemmour by television news channel CNews. Bolloré and his affiliated news outlets also assisted in the formation of, and promoted (respectively) the Union of the Far-Right alliance between members of The Republicans and the National Rally for the 2024 French legislative election.

Controversies
In April 2016, Bolloré launched a defamation law suit against the newspaper Bastamag, which had described "catastrophic" human rights conditions on plantations in Liberia where "children under 14" were working.

In January 2021, Bolloré and two other Bolloré executives pleaded guilty at a Paris court for supplying 370000 EUR worth of communication services to president of Togo, Faure Gnassingbé, during their presidential campaigns. Bolloré attempted to deny the charges at first, but his defense was "turned against him" instead, which caused him to admit his guilt despite initial denial.

Starting in September 2022, Bolloré's channel C8 was the subject of several controversies concerning its integrity, evidence being found that the presenters and guests on the channel were being ordered what to say. The inflammatory language used in its program TPMP was criticised, with the channel being sanctioned 3.5 EURM for having publicly insulted a France Insoumise member of parliament (MP). The insults were directed at the MP right after the MP described Bolloré as one of the ultra wealthy people who made the French suffer in poverty and stated that Bolloré's businesses caused deforestation.