Bouygues

"Here are two entrepreneurs who are also heirs; who have tremendously developed what they inherited, even though Férinel's real estate was in much better condition than Bolloré's papers; who each identified a sleeping beauty (Dior, within the Boussac empire, for Arnault, and Rivaud bank for Bolloré); who followed the advice of the same godfather in the Parisian establishment-Antoine Bernheim-to finance their rise to power; who ensured the construction of their empire through a very unusual blend of entrepreneurial aggression and ability to leverage new financial market instruments; who experienced both failures and windfalls (Gucci for Arnault and Bouygues for Bolloré); who moved into the new century without forgetting how to wield hostility (Hermès and Havas learned this to their detriment); who practiced financial engineering with incredible dexterity-Arnault increased his share of LVMH's capital from 38% to 46% in one day, crushing the Christian Dior holding, while Bolloré reached 27% in Vivendi, thanks in large part to the billions inherited from the opportune merger of the communication group with Havas; and who, finally, share the same dynastic ambition, a fierce determination to firmly establish this resolutely familial choice over time. In fact, it is the defense of family capitalism that is the cause of their joint presence in Lagardère's capital, and the potential source of a collision..."

"energy, Bolloré summarized his group as follows: "The recurring businesses, which are rarely talked about, generate annual revenues of 400 to 450 million euros. We extract from this 250 to 300 million to invest in future-oriented projects." Africa in the 1980s, Rivaud in the 1990s, media with the turn of the century... And always energy storage. "We invest where no one else goes," Vincent Bolloré repeats tirelessly, to justify the family lock on the capital and "the stability of its shareholding, which allows it to pursue a long-term investment policy," as stated on the first page of Bolloré's annual report. "Without that, I would have been fired three times already," adds the entrepreneur more bluntly, who believes-rightly-that conventional investors would never have followed him in the attack on Delmas-Vieljeux, the raid on Bouygues, or the crazy bet on batteries: no less than 3 billion euros invested over the past twenty-five years in energy storage!"

"Maurice Bidermann. Defeated in 1984 as well as 1978, Bidermann does not want to give up. In the first months of 1985, he attempted one last maneuver. His tactic was as follows: to buy enough claims to be able to oppose Arnault's proposals in the conciliation assembly. According to his calculations, there would be no other solution but judicial liquidation. And he could then be a candidate for the bulk purchase of the assets of the group he covets, mainly Boussac and Dior textiles. In his new offensive, Bidermann has enlisted his partners from the previous year, Bouygues and the Worms bank."

"How is it that LVMH did not appear during the threshold declarations at the time of the wave of Bouygues share purchases in 1999? Already, its presence was masked by a sleight of hand. In December 1999, LVMH loaned to Financière Agache, another head company owned 100% by Groupe Arnault, the 3.11% of Bouygues acquired that year. "When LVMH, a listed company and star of the CAC 40, crossed the 5% threshold in Bouygues, there was no declaration because its shares were assimilated to those of Groupe Arnault, which indirectly controls LVMH and had already crossed this threshold," write Les Échos. As a result, LVMH did not appear in the notice of the Financial Markets Council mentioning, at the end of 1999, the crossing of the 10% threshold of Bouygues' capital by Groupe Arnault."

"while Bernard Arnault had let it be known that he himself had bought the Bouygues shares through his personal companies (at the top of the cascade), it will appear that LVMH (at the bottom of the cascade) participated massively in the operation."

"The Arnaults, Bollorés, Bouygues, Lagardères, Dassaults, Pinaults, the Agnellis in Italy, Albert Frère in Belgium, or the Desmarais in Canada..."

"At the Fouquet's, during the famous little party among friends intended to celebrate Nicolas Sarkozy's "victory," the two barons of capitalism looked at each other like cats and dogs. At the wedding of his son Yannick to Chloé Bouygues, Martin's niece, on June 17, 2006, at the Armenonville pavilion, Vincent Bolloré even allegedly confided, "When my son told me he was marrying a Bouygues, I thought of that sketch by Muriel Robin where her daughter tells her she wants to marry a Black man, and she responds: a Black man... black?"..."