Gérard Mulliez

Gérard Mulliez was born on 13 May 1931 in Roubaix, France. His father, Gérard Mulliez, was the owner of Phildar, a knitting yarn brand founded by his grandfather, Louis Mulliez-Lestienne.[3][4] His uncle, Louis Mulliez, was the owner of the Saint-Liévin factory in Lille.[3] He has five siblings.[3]

Mulliez got bad grades at school.[3] He spent a year in England, where he learned to play rugby and pool, and learned to speak English.[3] He failed his Baccalaureate.[3][4]

Mulliez started his career working for his father's company, working his way up until he became its Chairman.[3][4]

In 1961, at the age of twenty-nine, after witnessing department stores on a trip to the US, he opened his first Auchan store in Roubaix, France.[5] He retired as chairman in 1996 and as CEO in 2006 handing over control to his nephew, Vianney Mulliez.[5]

His holding Association Familiale Mulliez (AFM) controls Auchan as well as a diverse mix of other retail chains such as Leroy Merlin, Decathlon, Saint Maclou, Kiloutou, Kiabi, Flunch, etc.[2] It is co-owned between a thousand family members.[2] Six hundred of his cousins are millionaires as a result.[4]

In 2004, he was the recipient of the Légion d'honneur.[6]

According to Challenge Magazine, he was worth 19 billion Euros in 2013, 20 billion Euros in 2014, and according to Capital, nearly 40 billion Euros in 2016[7] making him the first richest person in France.[2][8][9] According to Capital, the Mulliez family was the richest family in France in 2014.[10] According to Hurun Report, he is 18th richest person in the world with a net worth of US$30 billion.[1] Some of his family members reside in Néchin, Belgium.[3][4]

He has revealed that he has also spent less than he earns,[11] and reinvests most of his earnings.[3] He added that most of his wealth is tied up in family shares, and he would not be able to spend much of it.[3] He is in favour of taxing annual incomes upwards of 500,000 Euros, but not dividends on investments, arguing that this would scare investors away.[3]

On 21 February 2015, he paid a personal visit to the youth wing of the French Communist Party in Lille to protest a poster accusing him of profiting from the financial crisis, as he got richer while his employees saw their spending power diminish.[8][12] He argued that he employed a lot of people, adding that by the time he was their age, he had already opened his first store.[8][12]

Mulliez and his wife have three children. They reside in Croix near Lille and own another house in the South of France.[3] They are practising Roman Catholics.[3] He spends his weekends biking and hiking in the countryside.[3]

• La Dynamique du client, Richard C. Whiteley and Gérard Mulliez, interview with Jean-Pierre Thiollet, Maxima, 1994[13] and 1997.[14]

• List of French people by net worth