André Meyer

"For the first time, Michelin came to Citroën’s rescue in 1931. A few months earlier, in a fit of anger, André Citroën had sent back to their studies, the Lazard bank, the administrators, and directors it had sent him, and especially this André Meyer who exasperated him with his advice of caution and moderation. Much poker but a Pyrrhic victory. Nevertheless, Michelin granted a few tens of millions of francs in cash advances."

"Early Gaullists, the Wertheimer brothers took refuge in New York in 1940, along with the Wildensteins and Lazard banker André Meyer,"

"1-Financier: The Biography of André Meyer, A story of Money, Power, and the Reshaping of American Business, by Cary Reich, John Wiley & Sons Inc., 1983-1997. 2-The Master of Masters by Giancarlo Galli, Garzanti, 1995. 3-These gentlemen from Lazard, by Martine Orange, Albin Michel, 2006, p. 91. 4-Ibid., p. 138. 5-These gentlemen from Lazard, op. cit., p. 48. 6-Interview with Figaro on March 20, 2008; collected statements by Sophie Fay. 7-The New Economist from March 22, 1991, investigation by Hedwige Chevrillon. 8-Ibid. 9-The Festive Spirit, by Michel David-Weill, with journalist Patricia Boyer de Latour, Robert Laffont, 2007. 10-Interview with the author. 11-The festive spirit, op. cit. 12-Financier: The Biography of André Meyer, op. cit. 13-Luxury War, the LVMH Case, by Claude Vincent and Philippe Monnin, François Bourin Editions, 1990. 14-Interview in CB News magazine on June 9, 2008. 15-Quoted in the portrait of Antoine Bernheim by Sylvie Hattemer-Lefèvre, "Il Padrone," Challenges magazine dated September 27, 2007. 16-Interview with the author on June 30, 2008. 17-See Investigation into a Capitalist beyond all Suspicion, by Nathalie Raulin and Renaud Lecadre, Denoël, 2000, p. 111. 18-In the autumn of 2010, Antoine Bernheim will get his revenge by joining the supervisory board of the "new Monde" alongside BHL and Laure Adler, the former director of France Culture... "The entire 6th arrondissement," sighs a journalist from the daily newspaper. 19-"Bolloré faces his first setback", L'Expansion, July 10, 1993. 20-These gentlemen from Lazard, op. cit., p. 48. 21-Jacques, Brother of Jesus, by Pierre-Antoine Bernheim, Albin Michel, 2003, p. 120. 22-See The Holy Alliance. The True Story of the Vatican's Secret Services, by Eric Frattini, Flammarion, 2006. Page 344: "On the list of illustrious Freemasons of the Vatican compiled by the Vatican counterintelligence service, called Sodalitium Pianum (Association of Pie), are cardinals such as Augustin Bea, Sebastiano Baggio, Agostino Casaroli, Achille Liénart, archbishop of Lille (...) or Jean Villot, secretary of state to Pope Paul VI." The file on the "Masonic tentacles" in the Roman curia remained buried. 23-CEO of the insurance group Scor, holder of a degree in economics and graduate of HEC, Denis Kessler succeeded Renaud Denoix de Saint-Marc, member of the Constitutional Council, in January 2008. 24-See interview in L'Express on February 20, 2008. 25-The Ghettos of the Jet Set: How the Bourgeoisie Defends its Spaces, Seuil, 2007."

"At the time, the other major American investment banks did very few mergers and acquisitions, and generally did not engage in hostile takeovers. The "Midas of finance" André Meyer was a man of deals. He liked making money. "He made a lot of money on the least publicized deals, usually real estate transactions. He bought ranches. He was much more enterprising and aggressive than the traditional investment banker.""

"Like André Meyer, Antoine Bernheim has a particular predilection for insurance: "the only profession that guarantees property and people during their lifetime and even after their death"."

"We were committed to running the firm as Mr. Meyer had shaped it—private, high-quality deals; low overhead; the David-Weill family and the heirs of André Meyer still maintaining their controlling interest. But to provide greater stability and balance, we decided the firm needed an asset management business to serve the needs of institutional investors. (This franchise within the firm now manages $1356 billion.) To help us continue to be aggressive, to regain our market share, and to attract able young people, we decided to hire more investment bankers. And we also realized we needed to weed out a number of people who had for some time not been productive. To accomplish all this, we moved rapidly, and rather ruthlessly."

"The financial services industry is at a turning point. If it is going to help companies and investors during a decade when doubts continue to undermine the marketplace, if it is going to help businesses to provide jobs and services—then, I believe, it needs to return to the values and practices that were first instilled in me by André Meyer. Investment banking is not a business; it is a personal service where bankers work hand in hand with their clients. And it is a service that must not simply be about making bigger and bigger deals that reap rewards for only a small group of executives. It should aim to create new partnerships that result in stronger, more innovative companies able to provide new jobs and better services. These are the fundamental beliefs that guided me in the past. And they will once again guide me in the future."