Assessing Vincent Bolloré

WHO IS FRANCE’S greatest capitalist? Americans might think this question is the beginning of a joke. Those who take it seriously may finger Vincent Bolloré, who over nearly four decades has built an empire spanning African ports and French pipelines, pay-TV, electric cars, the world’s biggest music label and much else besides. On May 29th the 67-year-old stepped down from the board of Bolloré SA, the holding company at his complex empire’s core. At an annual meeting outside Paris, he air-kissed fawning shareholders one last time and, as a parting gift, gave each one three bottles of wine (from a Bolloré vineyard).