I wait to meet Xavier Niel in a room that feels fitting for one of France’s richest men. Gold encrusted walls frame a boardroom table the size of a small swimming pool. And beyond the large windows, a lily pond.
Niel is the original French internet mogul, of the generation before founders wore t-shirts to the office. His team wears suits; he arrives in a classic white shirt. Niel might ooze establishment now but his fortune is rooted in Minitel Rose, the “erotic chat” service he launched as a teenager. Later, he graduated to telecoms and the company he founded in the 90s, Iliad, is now one of Europe’s major
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