Xavier Niel

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Xavier Niel
Niel in 2014
Born (1967-08-25) 25 August 1967
Maisons-Alfort, France
OccupationBusinessman
Known forFounder, chairman and majority shareholder, Iliad
PartnerDelphine Arnault (2010–present)
Children4

Xavier Niel (French pronunciation: [gzavje njɛl]; born 25 August 1967)[1] is a French billionaire businessman. He is involved in the telecommunications and technology industry and is the founder and majority shareholder of the French Internet service provider and mobile operator Iliad.[2] He is also co-owner of the newspaper Le Monde,[3] co-owner of the rights of the song "My Way"[4]. He is chairman of Iliad,[5] and also a board member of KKR, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, and ByteDance.[6][7]

As of June 2026, his net worth is estimated at US$15.8 billion.[8]

Early life

Xavier Niel was born into a middle-class family; his father is a lawyer for a pharmaceutical laboratory, and his mother is an accountant. He studied in the 12th arrondissement of Paris at the Saint-Michel-de-Picpus Catholic private high school.[9][10]

Niel started early by developing telecommunication and data services and embarked at a young age on an entrepreneurial career soon after his father gave him a Sinclair ZX81 computer as a Christmas present when he was 15.[11]

In 1987 at 19, while dropping out from school, he successfully created then sold his first company, a Minitel (a French forerunner of the internet) service company. This minitel-site provided sex oriented chat services. To do so, Niel bought press licenses in order to be able to become a service editor, diverting it in order to set up its commercial services. Through this, he became a millionaire in euros at the age of 24.[12]

In his late teens, he was confronted by police for hacking Canal+ decoders. He has stated that, to avoid being arrested, he briefly did espionage for Direction de la surveillance du territoire, which allegedly included accessing the phone data of then-president François Mitterrand.[13][14]

Career

Early businesses

In the 80s, while still a student, his involvement in Minitel services brings him dozens of thousands of new francs every month.[15] At first working for third parties, he buys stock exchange newsletters to obtain their numéro de commission partitaire (regulatory press authorization) to start his own online businesses: weather services, stock exchanges newsletters, reverse directory services, and sex chatting services.[16]

During the same period, Niel and businessman Fernand Develter invested in a number of Paris-based peep-show establishments. Some of these businesses later became the subject of criminal investigations, and certain managers were convicted on charges related to procuring. According to press reports, the investigations concerned activities involving direct physical contact between clients and sex workers. These proceedings did not target Niel personally, although his investments in the sector attracted media attention.[17]

Telecommunications

After his early activities in the Minitel sector, Xavier Niel became involved in the emerging internet industry. In 1995, he invested in Worldnet, one of France’s first consumer internet service providers. The company was sold in 2000 for approximately €40 million, shortly before the collapse of the dot-com bubble[18].

In 1999, Niel founded the telecommunications group Iliad and launched Free, an internet service provider. In 2002, Free introduced a broadband offer priced at €29.99 per month and launched the Freebox, combining internet access, television and telephone services in a single package[19].

In 2012, Iliad entered the French mobile market with the launch of Free Mobile. Its flagship plan, which included unlimited calls, unlimited text messages and mobile data for €19.99 per month, was priced significantly below comparable offers from the three incumbent operators. The launch intensified competition in the French mobile market and was followed by substantial price reductions across the sector[20].

From the late 2010s onwards, Niel expanded his telecommunications interests outside France. In 2018, Iliad Italia launched operations in Italy with a mobile plan priced at €5.99 per month[21]. In 2020, the group acquired the Polish operator Play, one of the country’s largest mobile operators[22].

Through his investment vehicle NJJ, Niel also acquired or invested in telecommunications operators in Monaco (Monaco Telecom)[23], Switzerland (Salt)[24], Ireland (eir)[25], Cyprus (Epic Cyprus)[26], Malta (Epic Malta)[27] and Ukraine (Lifecell)[28]. In 2023, NJJ became the largest shareholder of Millicom (42% stake), a telecommunications group operating on 12 markets in Latin America[29]. Niel subsequently made two unsuccessful attempts to acquire the company outright[30].

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield

Since 2020, Niel has been acquiring shares in the real estate company Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, as of 2024 he was owning 25% of the shares of the company.[31] Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has an international presence in Europe (France, Spain, UK, Germany) and in the United States in California (Westfield Topanga, Westfield Century City).

Press

In late 2010, along with Pierre Bergé and Matthieu Pigasse, Niel acquired a controlling stake in Groupe Le Monde which edits the daily newspaper Le Monde but also magazines such as l’Obs, Courrier International and Télérama.[32] In February 2020, Niel acquired through his personal holding 100% of Groupe Nice-Matin, which edits the newspapers Nice-Matin, Var-Matin and Monaco-Matin. The group also own an 11% stake in La Provence.[33][34] In March 2020, he acquired France-Antilles, a daily newspaper in the French West Indies.[35] In June 2020, Niel acquired Paris-Turf which is France's first horseracing newspaper.[36]

Other investments

In March 2010, Niel cofounded with Jeremie Berrebi Kima Ventures,[37] a fund dedicated to invest in 50 to 100 startups a year everywhere in the world. Kima Ventures already invested in 330 companies from February 2010 to August 2014 in 32 countries. Business Insider described Niel and Jeremie Berrebi as almost certainly the most active angel investors in the world.[38] Since 2015, Jean de La Rochebrochard is the Managing Partner of the fund.[39][40]

In 2013, Niel created a school named 42, which is a free technical school with no teachers, no books, no tuition for 1000 people every year.[41] As of 2021, 33 campuses have been opened in the world.[42]

In June 2017, Niel welcomed the French President Emmanuel Macron for the inauguration of Station F, a business incubator for startups located in Paris, known as the largest in the world.[43]

In April 2021, he became the first shareholder of the company Unieuro, which is the largest Italian retailer of consumer electronics and household appliances by number of outlets, with a network of 460 stores throughout Italy.[44]

In April 2023, Niel was part of an investor group that announced that it had bought a 7.5 per cent stake in Swiss asset manager GAM.[45]

In October 2023, Niel together with Rodolphe Saadé, Eric Schmidt, and other investors announced a €200 million investment in artificial intelligence which includes "the purchase of a supercomputer and the creation of a dedicated research laboratory," later named Kyutai.[46][47] Prior to that, he was a seed investor in Mistral AI.[48]

Other activities

Neil was a member of the French advisory body Conseil national du numérique in 2011–12.[49][50]

In 2015, Niel cofounded Mediawan, an international production and distribution group, together with Matthieu Pigasse and Pierre-Antoine Capton.[51]

In 2016, Neil founded Art 42, a street-art gallery self-described as an "anti-museum" inside the Paris campus of 42.[52][53]

Niel joined the board of US investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in March 2018 and the board of TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, in September 2024.[54][55]

His book "Une Sacrée Envie de Foutre le Bordel" ("An Urge to Make a Mess"), co-written by former Paris deputy mayor Jean-Louis Missika was published in 2024 by Groupe Flammarion.[56][57]

In May 2004, Niel was indicted and detained for a month at the La Santé Prison for alleged procuring and misuse of company assets, which occurred in several sex shops in which he was a shareholder. In August 2005, a nolle prosequi was pronounced for the procuring part of his indictment, while in October 2006, he was given a two years suspended prison sentence for the misuse of company assets.[58][59]

Property status

In 2016, according to Forbes magazine, he ranked as the 129th wealthiest individual globally, with a net worth of US$9.7 billion (approximately nine billion euros). He was also listed as the ninth-wealthiest person in France in 2014 by Challenges[60][61] and seventh by Forbes in 2016.[62]

In 2019, Forbes ranked him 18th among France's wealthiest individuals, with €3.6 billion, marking a drop of ten positions from the previous ranking.[63] The magazine noted that "the most significant decline was seen in Xavier Niel, the founder of Iliad-Free, who fell ten places after a disastrous year on the stock market".[64]

According to Challenges in July 2025, Xavier Niel and his family reportedly held a fortune of €27 billion[65] making him the seventh wealthiest individual in France.

As of June 20, 2026, Forbes estimates his net worth at $14.8 billion (197th globally).[66]

Recognition

In August 2015, Wired named him as the seventh most influential personality in technology in the world.[67] In February 2017, Vanity Fair named him the most influential French person in the world abroad.[68]

Niel received the title of Knight of the Legion of Honour in 2022.[69]

Personal life

Niel's domestic partner is French businesswoman Delphine Arnault, who is a director and executive vice president at Louis Vuitton, and the chairwoman and chief executive officer of Dior. She is the daughter of Bernard Arnault. Niel has a son (Joseph, born in 2016) and a daughter (Élisa, born in 2012) with her and two sons (Jules and John, born in 2000 and 2002) from a previous relationship, and lives in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.[70][71][72][73]

Since 2013, he has also owned a five star hotel in French ski resort Courchevel.[74] In 2016, he acquired the Hôtel Lambert an hôtel particulier from 1640 on the Île Saint-Louis, in the 4th arrondissement of Paris for more than $226 million, to be reportedly used as the headquarters for Niel's cultural foundation.[75]

References

  1. Turvill, William (23 March 2024). "Telecoms billionaire Xaviel Niel: I've lost a lot of money on Vodafone". The Sunday Times.
  2. "France v Google". The Economist. 12 January 2013.
  3. Kuper, Simon (3 May 2013). "Lunch with the FT: Xavier Niel". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 3 March 2017.
  4. "Xavier Niel - Forbes". Forbes. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
  5. "Iliad management team". Iliad. Retrieved 21 December 2009.
  6. "Corporate Governance – KKR & Co. Inc. – Investor Relations".
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  9. "Xavier Niel, fondateur de Free, le cactus des télécoms". Capital.fr (in French). 26 March 2008. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  10. GODELUCK, Solveig; PAQUETTE, Emmanuel (20 October 2016). Xavier Niel (in French). edi8. ISBN 978-2-412-02140-8.
  11. Kumar, Udhaw (27 December 2012). "Self-made Billionaire Xavier Niel: The Entrepreneurial Journey that Began at the Age 15". Brainprick. Archived from the original on 15 September 2016. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  12. "Xavier Niel : le rebelle des télécoms" (PDF). 6 February 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 December 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  13. Ugolini, Sarah (19 May 2020). "Quand Xavier Niel piratait Renault pour le compte des services secrets" [When Xavier Niel hacked Renault on behalf of the secret services]. Capital (in French).
  14. Abboud, Leila; Klasa, Adrienne (17 November 2024). "Tech investor Xavier Niel urges Europe's AI start-ups not to cash out". Financial Times.
  15. "3615 Millionnaires". liberation.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 7 January 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2026.
  16. François, Digueneuve (February 2004). "Xavier Niel, Le rebelle des télécoms" (PDF). Le Nouvel Économiste (supplément au n° 1245). pp. 32–37. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 September 2016.
  17. Lecadre, Renaud (14 September 2006). "Le X, versant obscur du patron de Free". Libération. Archived from the original on 28 December 2021.
  18. Garside, Juliette (23 February 2012). "Xavier Niel: rebel storms bastions of Gallic elite". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  19. "Free propose un accès ADSL à 30 euros". Les Echos (in French). 23 September 2002. Archived from the original on 12 March 2025. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  20. "'Unlimited' mobile service for €19.99". connexionfrance. 30 November 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  21. "Iliad launches in Italy with low-cost offers to shake up market". www.ft.com. Archived from the original on 11 May 2024. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  22. "Iliad Agrees to Buy Poland's Play in 2.2 Billion-Euro Deal". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on 27 June 2022. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  23. Morris, Anne (25 April 2014). "France's Xavier Niel buys Monaco Telecom for €322M | Fierce Network". www.fierce-network.com. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  24. "Xavier Niel Agrees to Buy Orange Switzerland from Apax". www.penews.com. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  25. Business & Finance (10 April 2018). "NJJ Telecom Europe completes deal for majority stake in eir". Business & Finance. Retrieved 22 June 2026. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  26. "Monaco Telecom to acquire MTN Cyprus - Private Equity Wire". 16 July 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  27. Malta, Times of (1 April 2020). "Monaco Telecom completes €250m buyout of Vodafone Malta". Times of Malta. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  28. "Xavier Niel seals deal for Lifecell in Ukraine - Developing Telecoms". developingtelecoms.com. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  29. www.fitchratings.com https://www.fitchratings.com/research/corporate-finance/millicoms-rating-unaffected-by-tmch-acquisition-11-02-2026. Retrieved 22 June 2026. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  30. Sweeting, Georgia (1 July 2024). "Xavier Niel's $4.1 billion bid for Millicom is too low, company says". Total Telecom. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  31. MarketScreener (17 October 2024). "URW: the Niel family holds more than 25.5% of the capital -October 17, 2024 at 10:20 am EDT | MarketScreener". www.marketscreener.com. Retrieved 18 February 2025.
  32. "Le Monde Ousts Top Manager". The New York Times. 15 December 2010. Retrieved 13 January 2011. Le Monde said the official, Éric Fottorino, had been ousted from his key role as president of the management board, where he will be succeeded by Louis Dreyfus, an adviser to Matthieu Pigasse, a Lazard banker who bought a controlling stake in Le Monde with Pierre Bergé, co-founder of the Yves Saint Laurent fashion house, and Xavier Niel, a telecommunications entrepreneur.
  33. "Nice Matin: Xavier Niel finalise le rachat, finance un plan de départs volontaires". 11 February 2020.
  34. "Xavier Niel rejoint Bernard Tapie au capital de la Provence". 28 June 2019.
  35. "L'Offre de reprise de " France-Antilles " déposée par Xavier Niel validée". 17 March 2020.
  36. "Xavier Niel devient le nouveau propriétaire du groupe Paris-Turf". Le Monde. 30 June 2020.
  37. "Kima Ventures - The most active Business Angel in the world". www.kimaventures.com.
  38. "The Most Active Angel Investor in the World on Investing Everywhere and Reaching Breakeven Fast". Business Insider.
  39. Selmer, Marie-Caroline (18 January 2022). "Jean de La Rochebrochard : " Pour un entrepreneur, être soutenu par Kima Ventures, c'est avoir entre ses mains un formidable joker "". Forbes France (in French). Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  40. "Jean de La Rochebrochard". Europas. Archived from the original on 2 March 2023. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  41. "This French tech school has no teachers, no books, no tuition — and it could change everything". 13 June 2014. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  42. "L'École 42 continue de se développer, avec un réseau international de 33 campus partenaires". 18 January 2021.
  43. "Emmanuel Macron attendu à l'inauguration de Station F". 23 June 2017.
  44. "UPDATE 1-Iliad buys 12% of Italian consumer electronics retailer Unieuro". Reuters. 6 April 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  45. Agnew, Harriet (26 April 2023). "French billionaire Xavier Niel joins other investors to buy GAM stake". Financial Times.
  46. "French businessman announces mega investment in artificial intelligence". RFI. 26 September 2023. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  47. Dillet, Romain (17 November 2023). "Kyutai is a French AI research lab with a $330 million budget that will make everything open source". TechCrunch. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
  48. Taylor, Chloe (14 June 2023). "A.I. company raises record $113 million just a month after being founded—despite having no product and only just hiring staff". Fortune.
  49. "Qui sont les membres du Conseil national du numérique (CNN) ?" [Who are the members of the National Digital Council (CNN)?]. L'Express (in French). 29 April 2011.
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  51. Roxborough, Scott (28 April 2024). "France's Mediawan, Germany's Leonine Merge to Form Euro Mini-Major". The Hollywood Reporter.
  52. Morenne, Benoit (28 October 2016). "Street Art Heads to the Museum in France". The New York Times.
  53. Marcus, Lilit (16 September 2016). "Art42 Is Paris's First Museum Dedicated to Street Art". Condé Nast Traveler.
  54. Feng, Coco (2 September 2024). "TikTok owner ByteDance loses Coatue's Laffont on board, welcomes French entrepreneur Niel". South China Morning Post.
  55. Pinaud, Oliver (3 September 2024). "French billionaire Xavier Niel becomes one of the directors presiding over the fate of TikTok". Le Monde.
  56. Berthelot, Benoit (18 October 2024). "To Become a Billionaire in France, Try Going to Jail". Bloomberg News.
  57. Giordano, Elena (1 October 2024). "France's Bloomberg? Billionaire tech mogul dreams of becoming Paris mayor". Politico Europe.
  58. "Prison avec sursis pour Xavier Niel". L'Express. 27 October 2006. Retrieved 13 January 2011. Xavier Niel, pionnier de l'Internet en France et fondateur de la société Free, a été condamné à deux ans de prison avec sursis et 250 000 euros d'amende pour des détournements de fonds dans des sex-shops(...)Il lui était reproché d'avoir touché de 2000 à 2004 une somme d'environ 5000 euros par mois en espèces prélevée sur des recettes non-déclarées de sex-shops de Paris et Strasbourg, dans lesquels il possédait des intérêts financiers depuis les années 80. La justice le soupçonnait initialement de proxénétisme, en raison des activités de prostitution exercées par des employées de ces sex-shops. Il a bénéficié d'un non-lieu sur ce volet.
  59. O'Brien, Kevin (5 May 2013). "A Billionaire Who Breaks the Mold". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  60. Treguier, Eric (9 July 2014). "Classement des 500 des grandes fortunes: la France compte désormais 67 milliardaires". Challenges (in French). Retrieved 16 April 2025.
  61. "La fortune de Xavier Niel a explosé de 137% grâce à Free Mobile". www.journaldunet.com (in French). 10 July 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2025.
  62. "Xavier Niel". Forbes. Retrieved 16 April 2025.
  63. archive.wikiwix.com https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/index2.php?url=https://www.bfmtv.com/economie/economie-social/les-fortunes-francaises-du-classement-forbes_AN-201903050221.html#federation=archive.wikiwix.com&tab=url. Retrieved 16 April 2025. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  64. "Bernard Arnault reste la 1re fortune française et la 4e mondiale". www.20minutes.fr (in French). 5 March 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2025.
  65. "Xavier Niel et sa famille: fortune et classement". Challenges (in French). 9 July 2025. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  66. "Xavier Niel & family". Forbes. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  67. "The 2015 WIRED 100". Wired UK.
  68. "Les Français les plus influents selon " Vanity Fair "". 21 November 2017. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  69. Perreau, Charlie (3 January 2022). "Légion d'honneur : Huit personnalités de la French Tech distinguées" [Legion of Honor: Eight French Tech personalities distinguished]. Les Echos (in French).
  70. Wood, Gaby (15 February 2024). "Delphine Arnault on Family Ties, Protecting History, and a Year of Leadership at Dior". Vogue.
  71. "Biographie de Xavier Niel". Challenges (in French). Challenges. Retrieved 25 May 2020. Le compagnon de Delphine Arnault, fille de Bernard Arnault, est le plus gros business angel français
  72. Ellison, Jo (10 October 2014). "Lunch with the FT: Delphine Arnault". Financial Times. Retrieved 25 May 2020. She declines to confirm whether or not Niel is the father of her daughter, or even her daughter's name.
  73. Lasry-Segura, Edith (13 March 2017). "Au Lys-Chantilly, ce " ghetto des riches " où François Fillon s'impose". Le Parisien. Le domaine, présenté comme un "ghetto de riches", compte quelques personnalités parmi ses habitants. Comme le fondateur de Free, Xavier Niel, ou le Premier ministre Bernard Cazeneuve.
  74. "L'Apogée à Courchevel, le palace de Xavier Niel - Challenges". 25 December 2013. Archived from the original on 4 October 2023. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  75. Sarah Cascone, 'Billionaire Art Collector Xavier Niel Bought a $226 Million Paris Hotel Rumored to Be the Future Home of His Cultural Foundation', ArtNet, 24 February 2022