Gérard Paul Louis Marie-Joseph Mulliez (born 13 May 1931) is a French entrepreneur. He is the founder of the

Auchan Auchan () is a French multinational retail group headquartered in Croix, France. It was founded in 1961 by Gérard Mulliez and is owned by the Mulliez family, who has 95% stake in the company. With 354,851 employees, of which 261,000 have 5% s ...

chain of department stores.

Early life

Gérard Mulliez was born on 13 May 1931 in

Roubaix Roubaix ( or ; nl, Robaais; vls, Roboais) is a city in northern France, located in the Lille metropolitan area on the Belgian border. It is a historically mono-industrial commune in the Nord department, which grew rapidly in the 19th century ...

, France. His father, Gérard Mulliez, was the owner of Phildar, a knitting yarn brand founded by his grandfather, Louis Mulliez-Lestienne.Marie Bordet
Gérard Mulliez se confie enfin
''

Le Point ''Le Point'' () is a French weekly political and news magazine published in Paris. History and profile ''Le Point'' was founded in September 1972 by a group of journalists who had, one year earlier, left the editorial team of '' L'Express'', w ...

'', 12 July 2012Qui est Gérard Mulliez, troisième fortune de France et (discret) fondateur d'Auchan ?
''Sud Ouest'', 23 February 2015 His uncle, Louis Mulliez, was the owner of the Saint-Liévin factory in

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

. Gérard Mulliez has five siblings. Mulliez had reportedly bad grades at school. He spent a year in England, where he learned to play rugby and pool, and learned to speak English. He failed his Baccalaureate.

Career

Mulliez started his career working for his father's company, working his way up until he became its Chairman. In 1961, at the age of twenty-nine, after witnessing

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

s on a trip to the US, he opened his first

store in

, France.Carol Matlack, 'Gerard Mulliez' Auchan: France's Wal-Mart Goes Global', in ''

BusinessWeek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

'', 10 December 200

/ref> He retired as chairman in 1996 and as CEO in 2006 handing over control to his nephew, Vianney Mulliez. His holding

Association Familiale Mulliez The Association Familiale Mulliez (AFM) is the holding company of the Mulliez family. The entrepreneur family originates from around the Lille area of France, and is one of the wealthiest families in the country. AFM was founded in 1955 by Gérar ...

(AFM) controls Auchan as well as a diverse mix of other retail chains such as Leroy Merlin, Decathlon, Saint Maclou, Kiloutou, Kiabi, Flunch, etc.Gérard Mulliez et sa famille
''Challenges Magazine'' It is co-owned between a thousand family members. Six hundred of his cousins are millionaires as a result. In 2004, he was the recipient of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

. In 2022, retailers founded or part-owned by Gérard Mulliez, including

Decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...

and

Leroy Merlin Leroy Merlin () is a French-headquartered home improvement and gardening retailer serving several countries in Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa. Leroy Merlin is owned by the Mulliez family, which also owns Auchan. History In 1923, Ad ...

, have been criticized for refusing to pull out from the Russian market as a result of the

Russian Invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

Wealth

According to ''Challenge Magazine'', he was worth 19 billion Euros in 2013, 20 billion Euros in 2014, and according to ''Capital'', nearly 40 billion Euros in 2016 making him the first richest person in France.Le fondateur d'Auchan à des jeunes communistes : "À votre âge, j'avais déjà ouvert mon premier magasin"
'' Sud-Ouest'', 23 February 2015 According to ''Capital'', the Mulliez family was the richest family in France in 2014. According to

Hurun Report Rupert Hoogewerf (born 1970 in Luxembourg), also known by his Chinese name Hu Run (), is the chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report, a research, media and investments business, best known for its Hurun Rich List, a ranking of the wealthies ...

, he is 18th richest person in the world with a net worth of US$30 billion. Some of his family members reside in

Néchin Néchin is a town of Wallonia and district of the municipality of Estaimpuis, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Euro ...

, Belgium. He has revealed that he has also spent less than he earns,Gérard Mulliez: "Toujours dépenser moins qu'on gagne"
in ''

L'Express ''L'Express'' () is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''Réussir''. History ...

'', 9 July 2008 and reinvests most of his earnings. He added that most of his wealth is tied up in family shares, and he would not be able to spend much of it. He is in favour of taxing annual incomes upwards of 500,000 Euros, but not dividends on investments, arguing that this would scare investors away. On 21 February 2015, he paid a personal visit to the youth wing of the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Unit ...

to protest a poster accusing him of profiting from the financial crisis, as he got richer while his employees saw their spending power diminish.Lille : en colère, le fondateur d'Auchan s'invite chez les communistes
''

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of reco ...

'', 22 February 2015 He argued that he employed a lot of people, adding that by the time he was their age, he had already opened his first store.

Personal life

Mulliez and his wife have three children. They reside in

Croix Croix (French for "cross") may refer to: Belgium * Croix-lez-Rouveroy, a village in municipality of Estinnes in the province of Hainaut France * Croix, Nord, in the Nord department * Croix, Territoire de Belfort, in the Territoire de Belfort depa ...

near Lille and own another house in the South of France. They are practising Roman Catholics. He enjoys spending his weekends biking and hiking in the countryside.

Bibliography

* ''La Dynamique du client'', Richard C. Whiteley and Gérard Mulliez, interview with

Jean-Pierre Thiollet Jean-Pierre Thiollet (; born 9 December 1956) is a French writer and journalist. Primarily living in Paris, he is the author of numerous books and one of the national leaders of the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CEDI), a ...

, Maxima, 1994 and 1997.

References