Figure in the media sector, Franco-Lebanese investment banker Bernard Mourad died of cancer

Close to Patrick Drahi, who will entrust him with responsibility for Altice Media Group France in 2015, and friend of Emmanuel Macron, of whom he will be an advisor during the 2017 presidential campaign, the Franco-Lebanese investment banker Bernard Mourad died at the age of 50 following cancer, Thursday January 9.

Johan Hufnagel, a friend with whom he co-founded “Loopsider” in 2018, a “curiosity media” broadcasting short educational videos on social networks, announced his death on the LinkedIn network with a poignant message. “His name was Bernard, he had many lives. Lots of friends. He was also quite an idiot. » he begins.

Recalling how “proud” he was of “Loopsider”, which today has 2.7 million subscribers on Facebook and nearly 110,000 on the social network X, for which he had “put everything he loved” , Johan Hufnagel explains that Bernard Mourad fought “like a dog” against his cancer. On February 22, 2023, the businessman published a video on Loopsider, in which he spoke “publicly about his illness and the role that companies must play in supporting those who are affected. »

He leaves behind his wife, Stéphanie Ferran, former deputy general director of Hachette Livre, as well as their two children, Jeanne and Victor.

Banker, figure in the media sector

Born in Beirut in 1974 to a Lebanese Maronite cardiologist father and a French mother of Moroccan origin, Bernard Mourad fled the civil war with his family in 1978 and settled in France. He studied at Sciences Po and HEC.

From 2000 to 2015, he worked for the American bank Morgan Stanley, as a media sector expert. He was the architect of the major financial operations which enabled Patrick Drahi, Franco-Israeli billionaire, majority shareholder of Altice, to build his empire in telecommunications and media, notably overseeing the takeover of SFR to the detriment of Bouygues in November 2014 by the Atlice France group.

At the dawn of his 40th birthday, in the spring of 2015, Bernard Mourad left Morgan Stanley – demanding a bonus payment of 1.4 million euros, in a legal dispute still ongoing – and became president of Altice Media Group France , including Libération, L’Express and i24news, a 24-hour news channel based in Israel broadcasting in French, English and Arabic. He was subsequently appointed deputy general manager of SFR Media, vice-president of SFR Presse and head of development of Altice Media International.

Advisor and friend of Emmanuel Macron

In October 2016, he left all his positions within Atlice to become advisor to Emmanuel Macron during the 2016-2017 presidential campaign. On October 5, 2016, the “En marche!” » wrote that Patrick Drahi’s relative “joined the movement at his request”. “Emmanuel Macron expressly asked him to resign from his functions and mandates within the group”, specified the party which then indicated that he “will intervene as an advisor and will not receive any remuneration from the movement”.

In December 2018, he was appointed head of the “Corporate and Investment Banking” activity of the French division of Bank of America Merill Lynch (BofAML), a position which he decided to leave as soon as November 2019 due to disagreements with the bank on the strategy to adopt to develop in France.

For the record

Bernard Mourad becomes a lifesaver with his mySOS mobile application

He joins as a partner The Raine Group, an American investment bank specializing in the technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) sectors, with the aim of developing its subsidiary in France, in September 2021. I am excited to join the team and ensure that our new Paris office becomes a growth engine for our next phase in the region,” he said upon joining the firm. He will hold this position until his death on Thursday.

Bernard Mourad also published two novels in 2006 and 2008, respectively Physical Assets et Free tradecritiques of society and the excesses of exaggerated capitalism. Notably, in December 2013, he launched an application in France called MySOS, a social network connecting victims, accident victims and vulnerable people with rescuers.