Patrick Drahi, a businessman with Israeli and French citizenship, is the founder and controlling shareholder of Altice, a Luxembourg-based French association. He was born in 1963 in Casablanca, Morocco.
Patrick began his career in 1988 in Philips Group, where he was made to be in charge of international marketing of satellite and cable TV. He is also the founder of i24news, an international news channel which broadcasts news in three languages. He is known for dedicated contribution to charity.
Drahi Parents
Patrick was born in a Moroccan Jewish family, to parents who were maths teachers. He obtained his Post-graduate degree in Optics and Electronics engineering from the Ecole Polytechnic University in Paris. At his first job in Philips, he worked in a fiver optics laboratory. Although born in a Jewish family, he has never shown any interest towards his community activities and has been focussing mainly upon his business.
Drahi Spouse – Lina Drahi
Drahi met his wife Lina at a party. She was his professor’s sister and it was love at first sight that triggered him to propose to the medical student on the very same night. Lina belongs to an orthodox Syrian Greek family and the couple have now been married for 25 years with four children.
Net Worth
As of November 2015, Patrick’s net worth is estimated to be $10.3 billion, which makes him the third richest person in France and the richest in Israel. Forbes ranks him as the 60th richest person in the world.
Drahi founded the CMA, a consulting firm which is specialised in telecommunications and media and has been awarded a mandate from BCTV for the implementation of full service cable network for Beijing. He owns the Israeli cable television company HOT. Patrick Drahi’s Altice, the multinational telecommunications company which was founded in 2015 placed its foot forward into the U.S. by purchasing a 70% stake in cable operator Suddenlink for $9 billion. It is the latest debt-driven acquisition in a spree that has seen Altice Group snap up Virgin Mobile France and Portugal Telecom following its January 2014 $1.8 billion IPO. Following a buy-low, sell high mantra Drahi built Altice around 20 acquisitions of lagging cable and mobile operators, often at knockdown prices in places such as France, Belgium, Israel, Portugal, and the Dominican Republic.
Patrick is known to be a conservative person, who guards his privacy, and hence, often chooses to stay away from the focus of media. He currently lives in Geneva with his wife and four kids.