{{Short description|French investment banker}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox person | image = Matthieu Pigasse.jpg | name = Matthieu Pigasse | caption = Pigasse in 2012 | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1968|05|25|df=yes}} | birth_place = Clichy-la-Garenne, France | death_date = | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | education = | alma_mater = Sciences Po Paris<br>École nationale d'administration | occupation = Investment banker, investor | spouse = Alix Étournaud | parents = Jean-Daniel Pigasse | children = | relatives = Jean-Paul Pigasse <small>(uncle)</small> | website = }} '''Matthieu Pigasse''' ({{IPA|fr|matjø piɡas}}; born 25 May 1968) is a French investment banker, media mogul and investor. He was Lazard's Global Head of Mergers and Acquisitions and Sovereign Advisory, as well as CEO of Lazard France. He is now head of Centerview Partners in France.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Barzic |first1=Gwénaëlle |last2=Barbaglia |first2=Pamela |title=Centerview turns to Matthieu Pigasse to lead new Paris hub |url=https://twitter.com/ColinMoreshead/status/1345808364610138112 |access-date=3 January 2021 |agency=Reuters |date=8 April 2020}}</ref>
==Early life== Pigasse was born on 25 May 1968, in Clichy near Paris.<ref name="lunchwiththeft">Michael Stothard, [https://www.ft.com/content/b979fab2-e0d1-11e3-a934-00144feabdc0 Lunch with the FT: Matthieu Pigasse], ''Financial Times'', 23 May 2014</ref> He grew up in Normandy, rural France.<ref name="lunchwiththeft"/><ref name="wsjmax">Max Colchester, [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204397704577074140930329590 Athens Calling -- Banker Rocks EU], ''The Wall Street Journal'', 5 December 2011</ref> His father, Jean-Daniel Pigasse, was a journalist for ''La Manche libre''.<ref name="lunchwiththeft"/><ref name="wsjmax"/> His uncle, Jean-Paul Pigasse, is a media proprietor.
He graduated from the Sciences Po and the École nationale d'administration.<ref name="lunchwiththeft"/><ref name="wsjmax"/><ref name="forbesjoshua">Joshua Levine, [https://www.forbes.com/forbes-life-magazine/2011/0509/life-in-full-lazard-france-casbah-le-monde-matthieu-pigasse.html Matthieu Pigasse], ''Forbes'', 5 April 2011</ref>
==Career as a financial advisor== Matthieu Pigasse started his career in 1994 at the French Treasury where he was in charge of the debt and cash management of the French State. He became advisor in charge of financial and industrial affairs for the Ministry of the Economy, Finances and Industry under Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn from 1998 to 1999.<ref name="lunchwiththeft"/> He then served as chief of staff to Finance Minister Laurent Fabius from 2000 to 2002.<ref name="lunchwiththeft"/>
Pigasse became a managing director at the investment bank Lazard in 2002.<ref name="lunchwiththeft"/><ref name="wsjmax"/> He was appointed Global head of Sovereign Advisory in 2003, working on some of the most important sovereign debt restructurings in the last decade: Iraq, Ecuador, Argentina, Cyprus and Greece.<ref name="WSJWighton">David Wighton, [https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-lazard-banker-shaping-greece-and-ukraines-financial-fate-1423067028 The Lazard Banker Shaping Greece's and Ukraine's Financial Fate], ''Wall Street Journal'', 4 February 2015</ref> He is also one of the most active bankers in Europe in mergers & acquisitions,<ref name="LesEchos">David Wighton, [http://www.lesechos.fr/11/01/2015/lesechos.fr/0204072387473_m-a---les-banquiers-francais-conquierent-le-classement-europeen.htm M&A : les banquiers français conquièrent le classement européen], ''Les Echos'', 11 January 2015</ref> advising on deals such as "the $40bn merger of Suez and Gaz de France (to become GDF Suez) or the L’Oréal buy-back of Nestlé shares."<ref name="lunchwiththeft"/> Additionally, he advised Caisse d'Epargne to acquire a stake in Lazard.<ref name="wsjmax"/>
He was appointed CEO of Lazard France in 2009, the Vice Chairman of Lazard Europe in 2011 and Global head of Mergers & Acquisitions at Lazard in April 2015.<ref name="wsjmax"/>
He is a board member of BSkyB, Groupe Lucien Barrière and Derichebourg.
==Media business==
Pigasse's family had long been involved in owning or directing media – mostly newspaper publications.
Pigasse himself has been active in the media business, selling Newsweb to Arnaud Lagardère, advising Murdoch about Eurosport, helping Pink TV, as well as offering financial support to the pure player Rue89.
Since 2010, he has also become the co-owner, along with Xavier Niel and Pierre Bergé, of {{Lang|fr|Le Monde}}, one of the main daily newspapers of France (politically, centre-left), as well as owner of the weekly magazine L’Obs (since 2014).<ref name="lunchwiththeft"/><ref name="wsjmax"/> In October 2018, staff at {{Lang|fr|Le Monde}} learned that Pigasse had sold 49% of his stake in the company to Czech businessman Daniel Křetínský. {{Lang|fr|Le Monde}}'s Independency Group, a minority shareholder that aims to protect the paper's editorial independence, had not been informed of the sale, and asked Pigasse and Křetínský to sign an "approval agreement" that would give the Independency Group the right to approve or reject any controlling shareholder. {{As of|2019|09}}, they had not done so.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Willsher |first1=Kim |title=Le Monde journalists warn of threat to editorial independence |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/10/le-monde-journalists-warn-of-threat-to-editorial-independence |accessdate=13 September 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=10 September 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=" We, "Le Monde" journalists... " |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/actualite-medias/article/2019/09/10/we-le-monde-journalists_5508610_3236.html |accessdate=13 September 2019 |work=Le Monde |date=10 September 2019}}</ref>
Through his personal holding company LNEI, he acquired the music magazine ''Les Inrockuptibles'' in 2009 and ''Radio Nova'' in 2015.<ref name="wsjmax"/> He is also a shareholder in the French version of the ''Huffington Post'', Melty Group and ''Vice'' France.
In 2015, he was appointed chairman of les Eurockéennes in Belfort, one of the largest rock festivals in Europe.<ref name="EstRepublicain">Xavier Frère, [http://www.estrepublicain.fr/edition-belfort-hericourt-montbeliard/2015/07/01/matthieu-pigasse-nomme-president-des-eurockeennes-de-belfort-je-suis-tombe-amoureux-de-ce-festival Exclusive interview: I've fallen in love with this festival], ''L'Est Républicain'', 5 July 2015</ref> In 2016, he raised €250 million with Xavier Niel and Pierre-Antoine Capton to found Mediawan, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), with the ambition to become one of the largest media content and entertainment platforms in Europe.
==Politics== [[File:Ilham Aliyev met with Chief Executive Officer of Lazard Freres 01.jpg|thumb|Pigasse meeting with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev in Davos, Switzerland]] A long-time Socialist Party member, he distanced himself from François Hollande's policies in 2014 through his third book ''Éloge de l’anormalité'', in which he criticizes the inability of the elites globally to address the crisis and the systematic use of austerity measures.<ref name="lunchwiththeft" />
In May 2011, he organized a free concert in honor of the 30th anniversary of the election of President François Mitterrand.<ref name="wsjmax"/>
==Personal life== He is married to Alix Etournaud,<ref name="whoswhoalixetournaud">{{cite web|title=Biographie Matthieu Pigasse. |url=http://www.whoswho.fr/bio/pigasse-matthieu_45396 |website=Who's Who}}<!-- auto-translated from French by Module:CS1 translator -->.</ref> a journalist and writer, together they have three children. In 2011 she wrote an autofiction book about her husband's affair with the journalist Marie Drucker while she was pregnant with their third child.<ref name=":0" />
In 2011, his wealth is estimated at several tens of millions of euros.<ref name="commentlemondefutvendu">{{cite web|date=June 2011 |title=Comment " Le Monde " fut vendu |url=https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2011/06/RIMBERT/20696 |website=monde-diplomatique.fr}}<!-- auto-translated from French by Module:CS1 translator -->.</ref> While he did not own a house or car back in 2011,<ref name="forbesjoshua"/> in 2018 it was confirmed that he was the owner of two houses, one in Boulogne-Billancourt and another one in Mesnuls.<ref name=":0">Sophie des Déserts, [https://www.vanityfair.fr/pouvoir/politique/articles/article-mag-matthieu-pigasse-dr-money-mr-cool/55517 « Les deux visages de Matthieu Pigasse, Dr Money & Mr Cool »], ''Vanity Fair'' n°50, septembre 2017, p. 94-103.</ref>
Atypical in the banking landscape, Pigasse is a player of video games such as ''Mario Party'', ''Mario Kart'' and ''Assassin’s Creed''.<ref name="lunchwiththeft"/> He is also known to be a fan of punk rock.<ref name="wsjmax"/>
==Bibliography== *''Le Monde d'après, une crise sans précédent'' (with Gilles Finchelstein, Paris: Plon, 2009). *''Révolutions'' (Paris: Plon, 2012). *''Éloge de l’anormalité'' (Paris: Plon, 2014).
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pigasse, Matthieu}} Category:Living people Category:1968 births Category:People from Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine Category:Businesspeople from Normandy Category:French bankers Category:French mass media owners Category:Sciences Po alumni Category:École nationale d'administration alumni