The French billionaire Xavier Niel may have a colossal fortune, he does not have luxury tastes, on the contrary! Would the founder of Free be a bit stingy?
Despite his colossal fortune, the billionaire Xavier Niel remains a man with simple tastes. The founder of “Free” cultivates a rare discretion in the world of great fortunes, as evidenced by his attachment to this car far from the luxurious cliché …
Xavier Niel faithful to this racing car: “I have the same car for thirteen years“”
Unlike other great French fortunes, Xavier Niel does not fall for bling-bling. In biography Xavier Niel, the Pirate’s Wayjournalists Solveig Godeluck and Emmanuel Paquette unveil more personal facets of the founder of Free. We discover in particular his very first automotive crush in the 1980s: a Peugeot 205 GTI, a cult car sold in more than 330,000 copies in France, which has marked an entire generation. A choice that speaks volumes about its taste for simplicity.
In the 1990s, Xavier Niel fell for a Mercedes Cabriolet SLK. Since then, the billionaire has remained faithful to his favorite model, which he has been driving for over ten years. “”I have the same car for thirteen years. A German. I change it from time to time but it’s always the same model“, he told the economic magazine Balance sheet. An astonishing habit for a man whose fortune is estimated at 9.8 billion euros according to the magazine Forbes. It is not a question of Radinerie, but of simplicity!
Xavier Niel Cash on his vision of luxury: “Going from rich to …“”
If he is now part of the very closed circle of the great French fortunes, Xavier Niel has an almost detached look at his ascent. “”I don’t even know when it happened“, he confided to Balance sheet About his entry into the super rich club. A way to remember that he has never really changed his habits, despite the bank account that exploded. “”Speaking from rich to very rich has not changed my life. The real change is to have passed from a suburb like Créteil in Paris“He added.
For him, real luxury has nothing to do with yachts or private jets. “”Simple things, go to the restaurant or go on vacation when I want and where I want“, This is his definition of comfort. A simplicity that he cultivates even in his leisure. The one who has lived for over ten years a love story with Delphine Arnault, the daughter of Bernard Arnault, still sometimes agrees: that of walking”in catacombs“, one of his passions.
