Paris (AFP)

The famous auction house Sotheby's is the latest acquisition of businessman Patrick Drahi who, for 25 years, has built an empire in the field of telecom and media.

The conquest of cable in France

In 1994, Patrick Drahi founded the cable operator Sud Cablevision, then five years later Médiaréseaux, which he sold to the US cable giant UPC. After the bursting of the internet bubble, he created the Altice group which will gradually buy out almost all French cable operators (Noos, Numericable, France Telecom Cable). Numericable becomes the unique brand of the whole in 2007.

The boom in telecoms

In November 2007, Altice completed the takeover of the operator Completel, which became the branch dedicated to Numericable companies. The latter launched itself as a mobile operator in 2011. In June 2013, the acquisition of Outremer Telecom was formalized, followed a year later by the first operator without own network in France, Virgin Mobile. Portugal Telecom was subsequently swallowed in December 2014 for 7.4 billion euros.

The fight for SFR

In April 2014, Patrick Drahi won a highly publicized battle against Martin Bouygues (Bouygues and Bouygues Telecom) by seizing SFR. Altice pays 13.5 billion euros to acquire 80% of the second largest French telecom operator and secures the rest of the capital as of February 2015 by paying around 3.9 billion euros. The group then tried in June to buy Bouygues Telecom, but its offer of 10 billion euros was refused.

A press empire

Patrick Drahi first brought together in his portfolio small thematic channels like Vivolta, Shorts TV, Kombat Sport and the MCS group.

Associated with Marc Laufer, he took the next step by putting his hand in February 2015 on the French titles of the Belgian group Roularta, among which magazines L'Express, Expansion and Student.

Together with Alain Weill, he bought in July 2015 for 595 million euros NextRadioTV, which includes the radio RMC and the continuous news channel BFMTV as well as the chains RMC Découverte and BFM Business.

The businessman also owns, through Altice, the French daily Libération, a buyback made in two times in 2014 and 2015.

French-Israeli, Patrick Drahi also owns the Israeli news channel i24news, launched in July 2013 and the Israeli group Hot (television and mobile telephony).

The American adventure

Time interested in Time Warner Cable, Altice gained a foothold in the United States in May 2015 by buying 70% stake in Suddenlink Communication, number 7 in the cable sector. Amount of the transaction: 6.7 billion dollars (6 billion euros).

In September 2015, Altice announced the acquisition of Cablevision Systems for $ 17.7 billion. The new group is the fourth largest cable operator in the US market.

In June 2017, Altice USA, the American subsidiary of the Drahi empire, enters the New York Stock Exchange.

Uncertainties and auctions

In the fall of 2017, Altice's share price falls in the face of investor concern over the group's debt. Patrick Drahi separates from its general manager Michel Combes, directly takes over the group and promises to limit the debt.

First consequence of this reorganization: the separation of the group between American and European activities from 2018 to gain "clarity" and "simplicity".

On June 17, 2019, the group announced an agreement to buy the famous auction house Sotheby's, valued at $ 3.7 billion.

? 2019 AFP