Investigation
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In two years, driven by a frenzy of takeovers, the all-powerful Marseille shipowner has established itself in the media. From his links in the state apparatus to his proximity to Emmanuel Macron, “Libération” investigated his close guard, his ambitions and his muscular methods.
This is his favorite formula. «Sky is the limit», insists Rodolphe Saadé in the empire, the CMA CGM, which he governs from Marseille and constantly expands, from shipping – the historic heart, carried by 650 boats around the world – to logistics and the media since the acquisition, in 2022, of Provencethe Tribune, then BFM-RMC. The Covid, which caused the prices of its container ships to soar, has increased its power tenfold: third largest shipowner in the world, 160,000 employees, fifth largest fortune in France. At 54 years old, he is absolute master of an unlisted group, CEO and 73% shareholder, with his brother and sister. No one is now unaware of this name, Saadé. It carries a whole world, the secret world of shipowners, the fantastical perfumes of the Orient, the story of an Orthodox family from Latakia, in Syria, prosperous oil and tobacco merchants, victims of the nationalization of
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