what could the list of 300 large companies that Michel Barnier wants to take advantage of look like?

Big companies in the crosshairs of the State. Invited on the set of France 2 during the program “L’évolution”, this Thursday evening, Prime Minister Michel Barnier returned to his plans, in tax matters, seeking both to clarify them and to reassure the private sector of France. In detail, “300 companies” only, who have a turnover greater than “a billion euros”will be asked to participate in the national effort, during “a year, and maybe two”specified Michel Barnier. There is no question of undermining growth, investment and the confidence of leaders, he promised: “there will be no fiscal shock”and the “almost all” millions of businesses across the country will not see their levies increase.

But who are these companies? It is, in reality, difficult to define this group, since there is no list as such. However, we will spontaneously turn to the “large companies”according to the INSEE name. National statisticians in fact define a “big business” such as a structure which has 5000 employees, or presents “more than 1.5 billion euros in turnover and more than 2 billion euros in balance sheet total”. In 2022, there were 325 of them in France out of a total of 4.76 million in the country. Furthermore, they had a total turnover of 1,834 billion euros, or a little more than a third “of the added value and turnover of all non-financial and non-agricultural companies at the national level”. “With a few exceptions, these are multinationals established in many countries, French or foreign”added the national statisticians, in a blog post, last November.

Many details to be defined

However, INSEE does not provide additional information on the profile of these large companies. Nothing says either that this entire category will be the one concerned by the Prime Minister’s measures, since these can, according to the definition, have more than 5,000 employees, but a turnover lower than the limit cited by Michel Barnier.

Otherwise, we could also think of the CAC40 giants, or the member companies of Afep (French Association of Private Companies). Among the names with a particularly impressive financial record are Iliad – 9.2 billion euros in 2023 -, Accor – more than 5 billion euros last year -, Airbus – 65.4 billion euros -, Axa – 27.2 billion euros -, TotalEnergies – more than 237 billion euros -, Michelin – 28.3 billion euros -, Sodexo – 22.6 billion euros -, Fnac Darty – “nearly 8 billion” – or even Generali France – 15.5 billion euros.

It remains to be seen the specific conditions which will be defined during the parliamentary work, and whether the turnover must have been achieved over a year, a quarter, or a half-year, for example. Likewise, the limits retained – 2023? 2022? – to prevent a company having had a bad year, or, on the contrary, an exceptionally good year from escaping or inadvertently falling within the limits, will be closely scrutinized.