Rodolphe Saadé, CEO of Marseille-based shipowner CMA CGM, in Paris, February 16, 2022. DENIS ALLARD / LEEXTRA VIA OPALE.PHOTO
There's nothing like buying a TV channel to get you on the front page and out of the shadows. Until now, Rodolphe Saadé, who has just taken over Altice Media from Patrick Drahi, knows that he is entering the media spotlight. His latest purchase gives him control of BFM-TV, the most-watched news channel in the country, as well as its partner radio RMC. After buying the regional press group La Provence, the business news website La Tribune and launching La Tribune Dimanche, he is now at the helm of one of France's leading media groups, which he has entrusted to his wife, Véronique, to manage. The shipowner is following in the footsteps of Martin Bouygues (owner of France's top private channel TF1), Vincent Bolloré (owner of CNews TV channel, and weekly newspaper JDD), Bernard Arnault (owner of Les Echos and Le Parisien newspapers) and Xavier Niel, an individual shareholder in Le Monde and the weekly magazine L'Obs.
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France's top news channel BFM-TV sold to billionaire Rodolphe Saadé
Forced to flee war-torn Lebanon at the age of 11 with his family and land in Marseille in 1981, the 54-year-old has moved through the ranks even faster than other billionaires, without ever forgetting where his financial power comes from. From his office on the 30th floor of the CMA CGM tower in Marseille, designed by the famous Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid, he always has one of his 600 container ships in sight, sailing to or from the 520 ports served by the company.
