Who is Mr Drahi? – Patrick Drahi Biography
Patrick Drahi is a French-Israeli billionaire, businessman, tycoon in telecoms and media, and investor magnate. He has been a resident of Switzerland since 1999. Patrick Drahi is the founder and controlling shareholder of the European telecom group Altice, which is listed on the European Euronext Stock Exchange, and he also owns 18% of BT Group.
How old is Patrick Drahi? – Age
He is 59 years old as of 20 August 2022. He was born in 1963 in Casablanca, Morocco.
Patrick Drahi Family
Drahi was born into a Jewish household. When he was 15, his family relocated to Montpellier, France. Both of his parents are math teachers. Drahi holds an engineering degree from Paris’ École Polytechnique and a post-graduate degree in optics and electronics.
Patrick Drahi Wife – Children
Drahi is married and lives with his wife in Geneva, Switzerland. His children live in Lausanne, Tel Aviv, and Bristol, respectively.
How much is Patrick Drahi Net Worth?
Forbes estimated Drahi’s net worth to be $10.3 billion in November 2015. According to Forbes, he is the 60th richest person in the world and the third richest person in France. He was the richest person in Israel until 2016 when he was ranked second.
Sotheby’s announced its acquisition by Drahi in June 2019 at a 61% market premium. Drahi offered €2.5 billion to Altice’s minority shareholders in September 2020 in order to take the company private. In January 2021, a higher bid was accepted. Forbes listed his net worth as US$11.7 billion on March 5, 2021, ranking him 248 on the Billionaires 2020 list.
Patrick Drahi Foundation
Drahi and his wife Lina established the Patrick and Lina Drahi Foundation (PLFA) in 2014 to provide organizational grants to innovative programs in science and education, entrepreneurship and innovation, the arts, and Israel and the Jewish people. The foundation, founded in 2016 and headquartered in Zermatt, Switzerland, supports programs in Switzerland, France, and Portugal.
Patrick Drahi House
Patrick Drahi, a telecom titan and avid art collector, has just purchased Sotheby’s, the world’s oldest and largest auction house. Drahi will take the 275-year auction house private in a $3.7 billion deal, ending its three-decade run as a public company. Drahi spent approximately $1.5 billion of his own money to cover the hefty price tag, which included approximately $1 billion of Sotheby’s existing debt.
Patrick Drahi Career
Drahi’s business career began when he and an American partner persuaded mayors in southern France to let them lay television cable in their towns. This business was later purchased by John C. Malone’s UPC. Drahi received payment in UPC stock and relocated to Geneva to work for the company. Just before the dot-com bubble burst, he sold his stake in UPC for approximately 40 million Euros. He established the Amsterdam-based holding company Altice ATCE.AS in 2001, and it quickly began to acquire European cable companies.
Drahi is the owner of HOT, an Israeli cable television company. Drahi founded the international news channel i24news in 2013, which broadcasts in French, Arabic, and English. Drahi founded Numericable, a French cable operator. Drahi purchased SFR, France’s second-largest mobile phone and internet provider, from media conglomerate Vivendi in 2013.
In 2015, Drahi and his group Altice entered the American telecommunications market by acquiring a 70% stake in Suddenlink Communications, the seventh-largest cable company in the country. Suddenlink is worth $9.1 billion. Drahi also purchased Cablevision from the Dolan family in 2015, renaming it Altice USA, with its flagship brand Optimum being the fifth-largest cable operator in the United States. In 2018, the Dolans filed a lawsuit against Altice USA for alleged breach of contract.