Telecoms: Xavier Niel wants to acquire the operator Millicom in Latin America

Principal director and shareholder of Iliad, the parent company of the Internet service provider Free, Xavier Niel has a reputation as an Internet troublemaker in France. With a net profit of 150.2 million euros and an increase of 29.7% in 2007, the man was ranked 8th richest person in France by Forbes magazine in 2011.

After a short education, Xavier Niel abandoned his preparatory class in maths sup’ to launch himself into the minitel rose. He created and managed servers himself, which allowed him to quickly build up a small fortune. This activity in the charm network would give the man a sulphurous image that earned him accusations of aggravated pimping before benefiting from a dismissal in 2007.

In 1993, he founded Worldnet, the first Internet service provider in France, which he sold in 2000. In 1997, he had the idea of ​​launching 3617 Annu, a reverse directory which was an immediate success.

In 1999, he created Free, an Internet service provider. In 2002, Free launched an Internet package at unbeatable prices (€29.99 per month). This package quickly became the company’s flagship product. Free then launched the Freebox; a modem offering triple-play offers.

With his two accomplices, Olivier Rosenfeld, the financial director and Michael Boukobza, CEO of Iliad, Xavier Niel decided to float Free on the stock market in 2004. In 2005, Iliad-Free had a capitalization of 2.3 billion euros.

While the strategy of internet providers favors acquisitions and mergers, Xavier Niel swears by internal growth. In 2008, he had the opportunity to buy Alice ADSL, he hesitated and then ended up seizing the opportunity that allowed him to take over 954,000 subscribers of the internet provider. He became number two in the market ahead of Neuf-SFR. Alice-Free now hold 26% of the market share.

In January 2008, Free finally obtained the long-awaited 3G mobile telephone license, even if the latter was restrictive since it was limited to 10 million subscribers.

On January 10, 2012, Free launched its mobile phone offers, new offers, at ridiculous prices and without commitment (unlimited plan at €19.99).

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