20th-century French businesspeople

Paul-Louis Halley (French pronunciation: [pɔl lwi alɛ]; 16 September 1934 – 6 December 2003) was a French businessman who co-founded the retail company Promodès, which later merged with Carrefour. Much of his fortune came from his 11% stakeholding in Carrefour. He was estimated to have a fortune of £2.2bn, putting him at 104th on the Forbes World's Richest People list in 2003. He died in a plane crash in 2003.
Paul-Louis Halley founded the retail company Promodès in 1961, along with his father and brother. The company merged with Carrefour in 1999, with Halley as the principal shareholder.

Pierre Dauzier (31 January 1939 in Périgueux – 28 September 2007 in Paris) was a French businessman.Dauzier was the president of Havas for 12 years, and left the company in 1998. He joined the company in 1963, when he was 24 years old.

François Dalle, born on 18 March 1918 in Hesdin (Pas-de-Calais, France) and died on 9 August 2005 in Geneva, Switzerland, was a French company director and business executive. He transformed L’Oréal from an SME, founded in 1909 by Eugène Schueller, into the world's leading cosmetics and beauty products company.

Jeanne-Marie Lanvin (French: [ʒan maʁi lɑ̃vɛ̃]; 1 January 1867 – 6 July 1946) was a French haute couture fashion designer. She founded the Lanvin fashion house and the beauty and perfume company Lanvin Parfums.

Édouard Leclerc (French pronunciation: [edwaʁ ləklɛʁ]; born 20 November 1926 in Landerneau – died 17 September 2012 in Saint-Divy, Brittany) was a French businessman and entrepreneur who founded the French supermarket chain E.Leclerc in 1948. From his first store, Leclerc's chain has multiplied into more than 550 locations in France and 114 stores outside the country, as of 2012.Leclerc was born in the commune of Landerneau, Finistère, in the region of Brittany on 20 November 1926. He died in Saint-Divy, Finistère, on 17 September 2012, at the age of 85.

Xavier Niel (born 25 August 1967) is a French businessman. He is involved in the telecommunications and technology industry and is the founder and majority shareholder of the French Internet service provider and mobile operator Iliad trading under the Free brand (France's second-largest ISP, and third mobile operator). He is also co-owner of the newspaper Le Monde, co-owner of the rights of the song "My Way" and owner of Monaco Telecom, Salt Mobile SA and Eir. He is chairman and chief strategy officer for Iliad, but also a board member of KKR and Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield.As of February 2024, his net worth is estimated at US$6.9 billion.

Anne Lauvergeon (born 2 August 1959) is a French businesswoman who served as CEO of Areva from 2001 until 2011. According to The Wall Street Journal, she is known internationally as one of the most prominent defenders of nuclear power.

Lazare Ponticelli (born Lazzaro Ponticelli; 24 December 1897, later mistranscribed as 7 December – 12 March 2008), Knight of Vittorio Veneto, was at 110, the last surviving officially recognized veteran of the First World War from France and the last poilu of its trenches to die.Born in Italy, he travelled on his own to France at the age of eight. Aged 16, he lied about his age in order to join the French Army at the start of the war in 1914, before being transferred against his will to the Italian Army the following year. After the war, he came back to Paris where he and his brothers founded the piping and metal work company Ponticelli Frères (Ponticelli Brothers), which produced supplies for the Second World War effort and as of 2023 is still in business. He also worked with the French Resistance against the Nazis.
Ponticelli was the oldest living man of Italian birth and the oldest man living in France at the time of his death. Every Armistice Day until 2007 he attended ceremonies honoring deceased veterans. In his later years, he criticized war, and stored his awards from the First World War in a shoe box. While he felt unworthy of the state funeral the French government offered him, he eventually accepted one. However, he asked that the procession emphasise the common soldiers who died on the battlefield. French president Nicolas Sarkozy honored his wish and dedicated a plaque to them at the procession.

Régine Zylberberg (born Régina Zylberberg; 26 December 1929 – 1 May 2022), often known mononymously as Régine, was a Belgian-born French singer and nightclub impresario. She dubbed herself the "Queen of the Night".

Marcel Louis Michel Antoine Bich, Baron Bich (French: [bik]; 29 July 1914 – 30 May 1994) was an Italian-born French manufacturer and co-founder of Bic, the world's leading producer of ballpoint pens, lighters and razors.