Technology entrepreneur Xavier Niel owned more than 70% of Iliad, the parent company of his telecom outfit Free, before he took it private in July 2021. His portfolio includes ownership of Monaco Telecom and Orange Switzerland, the latter of which he acquired in 2014 for $2.9 billion and renamed Salt. Niel's initial venture, WorldNet, was France's first Internet provider. He started it in 1993 at age 25 and exited seven years later for $50 million. He financed the construction of a startup incubator, Station F, which opened in Paris in June 2019, and created free computer programming school 42. In October 2020, Niel bought a 3% stake in commercial real estate firm Unibail-Rodamco- Westfield; he currently owns 11% of the stock.
