Claude Bébéar

Claude Bébéar
Bébéar in 2015
Born(1935-07-29)29 July 1935
Issac, France
Died4 November 2025(2025-11-04) (aged 90)
France
Alma materÉcole Polytechnique
OccupationBusinessman

Claude Bébéar (29 July 1935 – 4 November 2025) was a French businessman.[1][2][3] He was a onetime CEO of AXA.[1][2][3]

Life and career

Early life

Claude Bébéar was born in Issac, France on 29 July 1935.[1][3] He graduated from the Lycée Saint-Louis and the École Polytechnique.[1][3] Bébéar was trained at the Armoured Cavalry Branch Training School in Saumur and did his military service in Algeria.[1] He then received a diploma from the Institute of Actuaries of France.[1]

Career

Bébéar started his career at Anciennes Mutuelles, up until he became CEO after André Sahut d'Izarn's death in 1975.[1] In 1985, it became known as AXA.[1]

He helped out Jean-Marie Messier from Vivendi. He was involved in the ousting of the chairmen of Rhodia.[4]

Bébéar was a member of the board of directors of Vivendi, BNP Paribas and Schneider Electric,[3] and was a member of Le Siècle.[5] He was also Chairman of the Institut du mécénat de solidarité and the Institut Montaigne.[3]

Personal life and death

Bébéar was a Roman Catholic, widowed with three children, two of whom were adopted from South Korea. In 2007, he was worth 106 million.[6]

Bébéar died in France on 4 November 2025, at the age of 90.[7]

Bibliography

  • Le courage de réformer (André Babeau, Odile Jacob, 2002)
  • Ils vont tuer le capitalisme (May 2003)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h AXA Profile
  2. ^ a b BusinessWeek
  3. ^ a b c d e f Vivendi biography
  4. ^ JOHN TAGLIABUE (18 November 2003). "If Claude Bébéar Speaks, French Companies Listen". The New York Times.
  5. ^ Frédéric Saliba, 'Le pouvoir à la table du Siècle', in Stratégies, issue 1365, 14 April 2005, p. 49 [1] Archived 10 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "Claude Bébéar dévoile sa fortune". Le Figaro. 6 May 2009.
  7. ^ Gallois, Dominique (4 November 2025). "Claude Bébéar, figure du capitalisme français et fondateur de l'assureur Axa, est mort". Le Monde. Retrieved 4 November 2025.