Martin Bouygues

"It must be said that when it comes to ambition, Bolloré is abundantly endowed. By 1999, he had already successively swallowed up Scac, taken a bite out of Delmas-Vieljeux, plundered the Rivaud group, and taken a big chunk of the assets from the Seydoux and David-Weill families... Not to mention his raid against Martin Bouygues, a member of Entreprise et Cité, foreshadowing the ability of the big predators to devour each other."

"Vincent Bolloré always has his own truth. From the raid on Delmas Vieljeux in 1989 (" I swear to you, my dear Tristan, that I didn't acquire any shares") to the latest takeover attempt on Ubisoft in 2016 (" Just a liquidity investment," he assured the Guillemot brothers), his initial approach is always a theatrical response. The magazine Challenges had the clever idea (for the reader) and painful idea (for the applicants) of having them recount their own experiences with the liar Bolloré, which were both unique and repetitive. And it was Martin Bouygues, CEO of the family group, who made the most sincere confession: "I had just returned from a trip to Africa. On December 9, 1997, Vincent Bolloré called me. 'Dear Martin,' he said, 'I have a fantastic image of your group, I just picked up 8.7% of the capital on the stock market.' He portrayed his approach as friendly, constantly calling me 'my buddy Martin'-even though we had only spent one year together in primary school! Up until then, everything was going well. But in the spring of 1998, Bolloré started expressing doubts about our strategy, particularly regarding telecommunications, and he never mentioned it to me before! In April, he even threatened not to approve the financial statements, putting pressure on the directors... And all the while, he continued to acquire shares on the stock market, reaching 12.4% of the capital. [...] Bolloré took me for a fool. But I didn't let him get away with it! Throughout this whole ordeal, he behaved like a thug. He deceived, manipulated, and humiliated me. I will never forget.""

"The thesis of the left-wing alter-globalist magazine is relatively simple: when the leader of the Italian right is openly the owner of newspapers and television channels, the leader of the UMP exercises indirect, and therefore necessarily more "insidious," control of information through his friends who are media tycoon shareholders. But the underlying tactic of power would be the same. Politis lists: "Martin Bouygues (with TF1), the Dassault family (with Le Figaro, Valeurs actuelles...), Bernard Arnault (Les Echos, Investir, Radio Classique), the one who presents him as his 'brother': Arnaud Lagardère (Europe 1, Paris-Match, Le Journal du dimanche, Elle...), or even the Chirac sympathizer François Pinault (Le Point), Jean-Claude Dassier (who became president of Olympique de Marseille after having led the LCI newsroom)...." Forming an impressive network of influence."