On this day in May 2004, he made headlines. Xavier Niel, head of Iliad and creator of the Internet service provider Free, was indicted and imprisoned for “misuse of corporate assets” and “aggravated pimping”, Claire Chazal announced in a serious tone, at the start of the TF1 news. Alone on the stage of the Olympia, the star entrepreneur broadcast the archive himself. “It’s a little embarrassing, isn’t it?” he said to the packed and hilarious audience. Niel, the king of self-mockery, was giving the only performance of a show entitled “How to become a billionaire” on Wednesday, September 18. His first piece of advice: “Go to prison”.
It took no less audacity to accompany a book to be published next week, A real desire to cause trouble (Flammarion), with a flashy cover: orange, or rather Orange, Free’s best enemy. Inside, the boss’s memoirs in the form of a frank interview with his friend Jean-Louis Missika, former administrator of Iliad and former deputy mayor of Paris. The show, whose title mocked the bullshit trending on LinkedIn, focused on Niel’s meteoric rise to fame that – really – made him a billionaire.
In particular, his spectacular entry into the market of Internet service providers and then mobile telephony, which he would dynamite in turn by innovation – the famous “boxes” – and price slashing – his 2 euro package. Driving his rivals crazy. “We have given you back billions of euros of purchasing power”, he proclaimed again yesterday, arousing the cheers of his fans.
Easter egg
The hero of the evening did not hide his pleasure. A few shots of humor: disguises, reading tweets insulting him, fake Brut report on his passion for the catacombs, parody of his beginnings in the minitel rose, which earned him a little trip to the Santé prison… Interspersed with more or less profound confidences. “Free has changed the image people have of me”; “I didn’t study”; “Start your own business!”; “Don’t be afraid of failure, I’m the biggest loser in the world”. Suddenly making the “How to become a billionaire” a little more serious. The promised “mess” slowly fades away. “I thanked Renaud Van Ruymbeke [NDLR : le juge qui l’a condamné, aujourd’hui disparu]he slips in as a regret for his crazy years. Bite the yellow line, but never cross it.” In short, don’t go to prison. In the audience, the resigned Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu. The journalist David Pujadas. The founder of Veepee Jacques-Antoine Granjon. A few artists and influencers like Lena Situations. The “Tout-Paris”, in its least subversive form.
Because Xavier Niel, since his setbacks and his American rise, has settled down. Ninth richest person in France according to the magazine Challenges and companion of Delphine Arnault, the daughter of Bernard, the big boss of LVMH, he resided in the very chic Villa Montmorency, a haunt of the ultra-rich, in the 16th arrondissement, before recently buying the Lambert mansion, a 17th century jewel. He is a friend of President Macron. The backer of many press titles, including The World. With Orange, which has become a technical partner, the hatchet is buried. The billionaire, like a good investor, is investing his chips in artificial intelligence start-ups that he believes in wholeheartedly. Or is financing free schools of a new kind, such as 42 in IT or Hectar in agriculture. The Robin Hood of the Internet, who had put an end to the telecoms “cartel”, has put away his arrows.
Not a word on current topics, such as the news that Pavel Durov, the founder of the controversial Telegram messaging service, tried to contact Xavier Niel on the evening of his arrest on the tarmac at Le Bourget. Or the Frenchman’s surprise arrival on the board of directors of ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of the much-criticized TikTok. Embers under the fire Niel, who wisely preferred to stick to schoolboy jokes and geek references. Before inviting the singer Nâdiya on stage to perform her hit “Et c’est parti”, released in 2004… a few days after he went to prison. A final clap in the form of a wink. Among video game fans, we call that a easter egg.