Xavier Niel at the Olympia: an ironic lesson on how to become a billionaire
This Thursday, Xavier Niel, founder of Free and a key figure in French capitalism, offered the 2 spectators at the Olympia a unique and surprising performance. Under the provocative title "How to become a billionaire", the entrepreneur delivered a master class mixing humor, personal anecdotes and ironic advice for success in life.
In a relaxed atmosphere, Niel welcomed an eclectic audience where one could meet personalities such as Jacques-Antoine Granjon (founder of vente-privee.com), the intellectual Jean-Louis Missika, or the influencer Léna Mahfouf, aka Lena Situations. Between videos, fake archive documents and sketches, the tone is set from the start: "It's so great to be a billionaire, everyone wants to be your friend. And you don't have to be a genius," he says derisively, before mocking the lack of start-ups founded by Einstein, despite his IQ of 162.
Five Ironic Lessons for Success
The boss of Free doesn't just make jokes, he structures his show around five pieces of advice for becoming a billionaire, each one tinged with irony: "Go to jail", "Trust Lena Situations", "Make a pact with the devil", "Respect your competitors" and "Believe". Each lesson is an opportunity to revisit significant episodes in his career, including his incarceration in 2004 for an alleged pimping case. This episode, he says, had a profound effect on him but taught him that failures are just stages to overcome.
Without bitterness, he recalls the advice of judge Renaud Van Ruymbeke, who died last May: "Bite the yellow line several times, but never cross it." Niel, lucid, admits to having failed more often than he succeeded. He mentions his aborted attempts to buy M6, CGR cinemas, and the Casino group. "Each time, I move on to something else," he confides, thus illustrating his unwavering optimism.
An optimistic and nonconformist billionaire
Beyond personal anecdotes, Xavier Niel also took a more political turn during his show, criticizing the lack of diversity in French entrepreneurship and the male and white uniformity of the environment. He defines himself as an “incorrigible optimist,” admitting to having believed that Brexit would not happen, that the war in Ukraine would not occur, or that the Covid-19 pandemic would last three days. Despite his errors of judgment, his career is a testament to the power of optimism, even in business.
This show also marks the promotion of his next book, A real desire to cause trouble, which is scheduled for release on September 25. For this unique performance, Xavier Niel captivated his audience by mixing humor, social reflections and stories of his rise in a show that lived up to his provocative and nonconformist character.
