Macron's Very Un-French Business Revolution
Outsider CEOs and entrepreneurs are shaking up the Paris billionaires’ club.
Emmanuel Macron, France's president, at World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024.
Photographer: Bloomberg
Is French capitalism stuck in a rut? Higher interest rates have battered the high-debt empires of Altice SA billionaire Patrick Drahi and retail tycoon Jean-Charles Naouri. The ever-present state, after nationalizing utility Electricite de France SA, has taken a golden share in struggling IT firm Atos SE. The likes of Bernard Arnault’s LVMH still straddle the globe, but billionaire wealth looks increasingly tied to inheritance than to entrepreneurial chutzpah.
So much for the revolution promised by President Emmanuel Macron back in 2017 — an admittedly different time before pandemic and war. But look a little closer and there are signs the cozy Parisian business world is getting an overdue shakeup, as a raft of new chief executives and managers knock at the boardroom door.