Claude Bébéar

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Claude Bébéar
Bébéar in 2015
Born(1935-07-29)29 July 1935
Issac, France
Died4 November 2025(2025-11-04) (aged 90)
France
Alma materÉcole Polytechnique
OccupationBusinessman

Claude Bébéar (29 July 1935 – 4 November 2025) was a French businessman.[1][2][3] He was a onetime CEO of AXA.[1][2][3]

Life and career

Early life

Claude Bébéar was born in Issac, France on 29 July 1935.[1][3] He graduated from the Lycée Saint-Louis and the École Polytechnique.[1][3] Bébéar was trained at the Armoured Cavalry Branch Training School in Saumur and did his military service in Algeria.[1] He then received a diploma from the Institute of Actuaries of France.[1]

Career

Bébéar started his career at Anciennes Mutuelles, up until he became CEO after André Sahut d'Izarn's death in 1975.[1] In 1985, it became known as AXA.[1]

He helped out Jean-Marie Messier from Vivendi. He was involved in the ousting of the chairmen of Rhodia.[4]

Bébéar was a member of the board of directors of Vivendi, BNP Paribas and Schneider Electric,[3] and was a member of Le Siècle.[5] He was also Chairman of the Institut du mécénat de solidarité and the Institut Montaigne.[3]

Personal life and death

Bébéar was a Roman Catholic, widowed with three children, two of whom were adopted from South Korea. In 2007, he was worth €106 million.[6]

Bébéar died in France on 4 November 2025, at the age of 90.[7]

Bibliography

  • Le courage de réformer (André Babeau, Odile Jacob, 2002)
  • Ils vont tuer le capitalisme (May 2003)

References

  1. AXA Profile
  2. BusinessWeek
  3. Vivendi biography
  4. JOHN TAGLIABUE (18 November 2003). "If Claude Bébéar Speaks, French Companies Listen". The New York Times.
  5. Frédéric Saliba, 'Le pouvoir à la table du Siècle', in Stratégies, issue 1365, 14 April 2005, p. 49 Archived 10 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine
  6. "Claude Bébéar dévoile sa fortune". Le Figaro. 6 May 2009.
  7. Gallois, Dominique (4 November 2025). "Claude Bébéar, figure du capitalisme français et fondateur de l'assureur Axa, est mort". Le Monde. Retrieved 4 November 2025.