Like every year, the American magazine Forbes publishes the 2023 ranking of the greatest fortunes in the world. 43 French people are there. Among them: three billionaires from Drôme Ardèche. But who are they?
Bernard Arnault, big boss of LVMH, and Françoise Meyers-Bettencourt, heiress of L’Oréal: in April 2023, the richest man and woman in the world are French, according to the annual ranking established by the American business magazine Forbes. In reality, day after day or even hour after hour, two men are fighting over the top step of this golden podium, Bernard Arnault and the American Elon Musk, boss of Tesla, Space X and Twitter. Fortune, even colossal, has its (small) ups and downs…
43 French billionaires appear this year in the Forbes ranking, including two Ardéchois and a Drômois. 23rd French fortune and 659th in the world, Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, 82, boss of Fimalac, a holding company he created in 1991 and which thrives in real estate as well as in private equity or entertainment and media. In reality, the enarque Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, born in Nice, is mainly Ardèche by the castle of his family located in Coux, near Privas, where he spent part of his childhood.
Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière is also honorary president of the Revue des Deux Mondes, an intellectual and literary review, which he bought in 1991 and of which he was director of publication for nearly 20 years. In 2018, he was sentenced for having granted the wife of François Fillon a “compensation contrary to the corporate purpose of the Revue des Deux Mondes“.
Another gilt-edged Ardéchois to appear in the Forbes ranking, Bernard Fraisse, 32nd French fortune but only 1272nd worldwide. At 66, Bernard Fraisse is a pure Ardèche from the north of the department.
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Born in Pailharès, he launched himself into active life at a very young age. A novice salesperson for cleaning products, he traveled the roads of his native region to canvass factories, before founding the Fareva group, the European leader in pharmaceutical subcontracting. A billionaire seems faithful to his origins since the very name of his group, Fareva, means “to dream” in Ardèche patois. Today, Fareva has 12,000 employees worldwide.
Only one Drômois (although born in Annonay in Ardèche!) appears in the Forbes 2023, in 39th place for France and 1804th for the planet. A heavyweight nonetheless, since it is Norbert Dentressangle, founder of the transport and logistics group of the same name. A group of large tonnage which was at the beginning in the Drôme only a small company of transport of apples between France and England. Proof that fainting can be particularly effective financially…
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In 2015, the Norbert Dentressangle group went under the American flag with its takeover by XPO Logistics. Since then, Norbert Dentressangle has invested in various sectors, in particular taking control of the equipment rental company Kiloutou.