Jean-René Fourtou

Jean-René Fourtou is a French business executive. He served as the chief executive officer and chairman of Vivendi from 2002 to 2005. He now serves as its honorary chairman.

Biography

Jean-René Fourtou is the son of René Fourtou, a mathematics teacher. He is married to Janelly Fourtou, a Member of the European Parliament.
Close to Édouard Balladur, he took over as head of the Rhône-Poulenc group in 1986 and oversaw its privatization from 1993 onwards and its dismantling. In 2002, he took over as head of Vivendi with the aim of selling off the group piece by piece.
In 2012, he assembled an informal group to promote Nicolas Sarkozy's candidacy.