Patrick Drahi

Patrick Drahi (Arabic: باتريك دراحي‎ ; Hebrew: פטריק דרהי‎; born 1963) is a French-Israeli billionaire businessman with French, Portuguese, and Israeli citizenship,[2] 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.

Patrick Drahi
Born1963 (age 56–57)
Casablanca, Morocco
NationalityFrench, Israeli, Portuguese
EducationÉcole Polytechnique
OccupationBusinessman
Known forFounder and head of Altice
Net worthUS$12.8 billion (February 2020)[1]
Spouse(s)Lina Drahi
Children4

Biography

Drahi was born in Casablanca, to a Jewish family. When he was 15 years old, the family moved to Montpellier, France. He descends from Jews expelled from Portugal by the Portuguese Inquisition.[4] His parents are both math teachers. Drahi has an engineering degree from the École Polytechnique university in Paris (with a post-graduate degree in optics and electronics).[5][6]

Business career

In 2013, Drahi founded the international news channel i24news. This channel is based in Israel, and broadcasts in French, Arabic, and English.[7]

Drahi later became the owner of French cable operator Numericable. In 2013, Drahi bought SFR, the second largest mobile phone and internet provider in France, from media conglomerate Vivendi.

Drahi and his group Altice entered the American telecommunications market in 2015 by purchasing a 70 per cent stake in Suddenlink Communications, the seventh-largest cable company in the US. Suddenlink is valued at $9.1 billion.[8]

In 2015, Drahi bought Cablevision from the Dolan family, renaming it Altice USA with its flagship brand Optimum being the fifth-largest cable operator in the USA.

Drahi owns the Israeli cable television company HOT.[9]

As of November 2015, Forbes estimated Drahi's net worth at $10.3 billion. Forbes ranked him as the 60th-richest person in the world, the third-richest person in France.[10] He was ranked as the richest person in Israel, until 2016, when he came in second.[9][11]

In June 2019, Sotheby's announced it was being acquired by Drahi at a 61% market premium.[12]

Personal life

He is married and lives in Geneva, Switzerland with his wife and four children.[13][14]

References
  1. "Forbes profile: Patrick Drahi". Forbes. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  2. "Le futur actionnaire de SFR a-t-il renoncé à être français?". 14 March 2014..
  3. Grégory Raymond (14 March 2014). "Qui est Patrick Drahi, le sulfureux patron de Numericable"..
  4. - Visao Sapo - Quem é Patrick Drahi, o homem que quer juntar a TVI à PT
  5. "Patrick Drahi". Forbes. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  6. "Patrick Drahi". Bloomberg Business. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  7. "Billionaire Drahi Set to Expand International Media Holdings". Wall Street Journal. 22 June 2015.
  8. "Patrick Drahi's Altice Enters U.S.A. With Suddenlink Deal; Clash of Telco/Cable Titans Looms". Forbes. 22 June 2015.
  9. "Globes English - Patrick Drahi's Altice to buy Cablevision for $17.7b". globes.co.il. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  10. "#57 Patrick Drahi". Forbes. 22 June 2015.
  11. אבריאל, איתן. "500 העשירים: האיש שחזר לפיסגה עם 8.3 מיליארד דולר". TheMarker. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  12. "Sotheby's to Be Sold, Jolting the Art World". Wall Street Journal. 17 June 2019. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  13. 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"
  14. Altice's savvy 'playbook' fuels rapid growth at telecoms group 24 February 2015, Financial Times, Adam Thomson in Paris and Arash Massoudi in London
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