Xavier Niel is a France based businessman and entrepreneur. He is also active in the technology/ telecom industry. He also owns a majority stake in IIiad, an Internet service provider. He is a Chief Strategy Officer and Deputy Chairman at Iliad. He took over Orange Suisse, a Swiss phone provider, on December 17, 2014.
He was born on August 25, 1967 in Suburbs of Paris, France. He started his career at young age. He initially engaged in the development of telecom/ data services. At the age of 19, he established a service company called Minitel. The Minitel site was engaged in offering sex chat services. He later sold this first company.
He also invested in World-Net, the first Internet service provider based in France. The company was established in France in the year 1994 by Pierre Séguret, Philippe Langlois and Sébastien Socchard. However, they have sold the company later.
He took over a company and renamed it to Iliad. In 1996, he unveiled a reversed directory service on Minitel, which is earning annual revenue of Euro 1 million for Iliad.
He has established an Internet service provider – Free in France. It has created some jitters among the Internet service providers in France. The company has unveiled a broadband service for monthly fee of Euro 29.99 in the year 2002. The company also introduced the multiservice box – Freebox, the first of its kind in France. He holds a majority stake of 63.93% in Iliad.
He and Jeremie Berrebi have cofounded Kima Ventures in the year 2010 with an aim to invest in around 100 startups annually. The company has invested in around 330 firms during February 2010 and August 2014 spanning 32 nations worldwide.
He later acquired a controlling stake in Le Monde, a newspaper, at the end of 2010.
He has revolutionized the mobile telephony by launching – Free Mobile in the year 2012.
The 45 year old Niel is fond of open collared shirts and Jeans. He studied at Saint-Michel-de-Picpus.
Xavier Niel’s Wife
In his marriage with Delphine Arnault, he has a daughter in 2012.
Delphine Arnault was born on April 4, 1975 to Bernard Arnault and Anne Dewavrin. She is a Executive Vice President, Director, and French business woman at Louis Vuitton. She has obtained a Degree from EDHEC Business School and London School of Economics and started her career at McKinsey and Company, a consulting firm. She was a member of the LVMH management board in the year 2003. He also had two boys from his first relationship.
Notable Achievements
Xavier Niel has bagged the award – BFM Radio Manager of the Year in the year 2009. He has also bagged award – Influential Digital Personality of the Year in the year 2011.
Net Worth
Xavier Niel has a net worth of US$9 Billion.