Fabrice Fries (born March 11, 1960) is a French business executive, currently chairman and chief executive officer of

Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (; AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. With 2,400 employees of 100 nationalities, AFP has an editorial presence in 260 c ...

. He previously held various managerial positions in media companies such as

Vivendi Vivendi SE (stylized in all lowercase) is a French investment company headquartered in Paris. It currently wholly-owns Gameloft as well as a number of investments in several companies, primarily involved in content, entertainment, media, and t ...

Havas Havas NV () is a French multinational corporation, multinational advertising agency, advertising and public relations company, with its registered office and head office in Puteaux, France. Havas operates in more than 100 countries. The group ...

and

Publicis Groupe Publicis Groupe S.A. is a French multinational advertising and public relations company. As of 2024, the company is the largest advertising company in the world by revenue. Based in Paris, it is one of the 'Big Four' advertising commpanies, al ...

Education

Fries studied at the

École normale supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

(higher education in humanities),

Institut d'études politiques de Paris Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...

and

École nationale d'administration The (; ENA; ) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by the then Provisional Government of the French Republic, provisional chief of government Charles de Gaulle and principal co-author of the Constitution of France, 1958 Constitution M ...

(class "Denis-Diderot" of 1985). He also holds a master's degree in history from

Sorbonne University Sorbonne University () is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to the Middle Ages in 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sorbon as a constituent college of the Unive ...

Career

After graduating from the Ecole Nationale d'Administration, Fabrice Fries joined the French Court of Auditors, as an auditor, before moving to the private office of Jacques Delors, president of the European of Commission. In 1995, he became the special advisor to the Compagnie Générale des Eaux (now

) Chairman and CEO, Jean-Marie Messier. In 1997, he was appointed Head of Strategy & Development of

, where he refocused of the group's activities on publishing and press. After Havas' take-over by Vivendi in 1998, it was renamed Vivendi Universial Publishing and Fabrice Fries became its Deputy General Director, in charge of the press and professional information divisions, working with brands such as L'Express, L'Expansion, Courrier international, Dalloz, Masson, Vidal, Le Moniteur, L'Usine nouvelle, L'Etudiant, Exposium, 01 Informatique, le Quotidien du Médecin, as well as several health information brands worldwide. In 2002, Fries was in charge of the sale of those assets by Vivendi to investment funds Cinven, Carlyle and Apax. In 2004, he joined Atos, an IT services company, as Group Senior Vice-President, in charge of key accounts and market strategy. In 2006, he was appointed General Secretary and member of the executive committee of Publicis Groupe, the third biggest communications group worldwide. In June 2009, he became head of Publicis Consultants, a Publicis Group agency specialising in corporate and crisis communications. On April 12, 2018, he became the chairman and chief executive officer of

(AFP), one of the world's leading press agencies. Since taking the helm in 2018, Fries has contributed to AFP’s financial growth with a transformation plan that places a particular emphasis on the Agency’s video and photo services. Furthermore, AFP has continued to diversify its revenues under Fries’ leadership with its world-leadin
fact-checking service
which saw a dramatic increase in demand during the COVID-19 pandemic with the surge of disinformation surrounding the disease. He is a staunch advocate of neighbouring rights for the press in the face of Google, which he deems a “just fight”, and even "a personal mission, because it is not normal that those that simply relay news profit from it."

Personal life

Fries is married to Fabrizia Benini, a senior European civil servant at the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

(DG CONNECT) and has two daughters. He is the brother of Charles Fries, a French diplomat, currently French ambassador to Turkey.

Publications

* ''L'emprise du faux'', Éditions de l'Observatoire, 2021. * ''Les Grands Débats européens'', Éditions du Seuil, 1995.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fries, Fabrice 1960 births Living people French chief executives