Patrick Drahi
Patrick Drahi | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Drahi in 2015 | |
| Born | 20 August 1963 Casablanca, Morocco |
| Nationality | Israeli[1] French (formerly)[nt 1] |
| Education | École Polytechnique |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | Founder of Altice, owns 24.5% BT Group |
| Title | Chairman of Altice and Altice USA |
| Spouse | Lina Drahi |
| Children | 4 |
Patrick Drahi (Template:IPA-fr; Template:Lang-he; born 20 August 1963) is an Israeli billionaire magnate and investor with interests in media and telecoms.[2] A former French citizen,[1] he has been living in Switzerland since 1999.[3] He is the founder and controlling shareholder of the European-based telecom group Altice, listed on the European Euronext Stock Exchange and Patrick Drahi also owns 24.5%[4] of BT Group.
Early life
Drahi was born in Casablanca, Morocco to a Jewish family. When he was 15 years old, the family moved to Montpellier, France.[5] His parents are both maths teachers. Drahi has an engineering degree from École Polytechnique in Paris, and a post-graduate degree in optics and electronics from Télécom Paris.[6][7]
Business career
Drahi's business career began when he and an American partner convinced mayors in southern France to allow them to lay cable for television in their towns. This company was later sold to John C. Malone's UPC. Drahi was paid in UPC stock and went to Geneva to work for the company. He sold his position in UPC for approximately 40 million Euros just before the dot-com bubble burst.[8] In 2001, he founded the Amsterdam-based holding company Altice ATCE.AS, which soon began to buy up European cable companies.[8]
Drahi owns the Israeli cable television company HOT.[9]
In 2013, Drahi founded the international news channel i24news, based in Israel, and broadcasting in French, Arabic, and English.[10]
Personal life
Drahi is married and lives in Geneva, Switzerland with his wife.[11][12] His children live in Lausanne, Tel Aviv, and Bristol.[8]
In 2013, Drahi's lawyer had said in a statement to Challenges, who were going to include him in a list of France's top 500 fortunes, that he had given up his French nationality to become an Israeli national.[1]
In 2014, Drahi and his wife Lina created the Patrick and Lina Drahi Foundation (PLFA) to support innovative programs in the areas of science and education, entrepreneurship and innovation, the arts, and Israel and the Jewish people, through organizational grants. Incorporated in 2016 and headquartered in Zermatt, Switzerland, the foundation supports programs in Switzerland, France and Portugal.[13][14][15]
References
- ^ a b c "Le futur actionnaire de SFR a-t-il renoncé à être français?" (in French). 14 March 2014.
Or Patrick Drahi ne figure pas dans notre classement 2013 des 500 fortunes françaises paru en juillet dernier. [...] Challenges a reçu une lettre d'Alexandre Marque (Cabinet Franklin), avocat de Patrick Drahi nous sommant de ne pas intégrer son client dans notre top 500. L'argument invoqué? "Mr Drahi a pris la nationalité israélienne et renoncé à la nationalité française.
. - ^ "Le futur actionnaire de SFR a-t-il renoncé à être français?". 14 March 2014..
- ^ Grégory Raymond (14 March 2014). "Qui est Patrick Drahi, le sulfureux patron de Numericable"..
- ^ "Patrick Drahi's Altice lifts stake in BT to almost 25%". 24 May 2023.
- ^ - Visao Sapo - Quem é Patrick Drahi, o homem que quer juntar a TVI à PT
- ^ "Patrick Drahi". Forbes. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
- ^ "Patrick Drahi". Bloomberg Business. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
- ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference
reuterswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Globes English - Patrick Drahi's Altice to buy Cablevision for $17.7b". globes.co.il. 17 September 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
- ^ "Billionaire Drahi Set to Expand International Media Holdings". Wall Street Journal. 22 June 2015.
- ^ Financial Times: "French telecoms outsider is more easyJet than jet set" by Adam Thomson 22 May 2015 | "He spends his weekends at his home in Geneva with his Syrian Christian (Greek Orthodox) wife"
- ^ Altice's savvy 'playbook' fuels rapid growth at telecoms group 24 February 2015, Financial Times, Adam Thomson in Paris and Arash Massoudi in London
- ^ PLFA Foundation website
- ^ "PLFA The Patrick and Lina Drahi Foundation" Dun & Bradstreet Directory
- ^ "PLFA – The Patrick and Lina Drahi Foundation" Europaweg Grachen Zermatt
Cite error: There are <ref group=nt> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=nt}} template (see the help page).