Gérard Paul Louis Marie-Joseph Mulliez (born 13 May 1931) is a French entrepreneur and 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% ...

chain of department stores.

Early life

Gérard Mulliez was born on 13 May 1931, in

Roubaix Roubaix ( , ; ; ; ) is a city in northern France, located in the Lille metropolitan area on the Belgian border. It is a historically mono-industrial Communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, depar ...

, France. His father, Gérard Mulliez, was the owner of Phildar, a knitting yarn brand founded by his grandfather, Louis Mulliez-Lestienne.Qui 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 (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

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

Career

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

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

s during 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'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...

'', 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 Gér ...

(AFM) controls Auchan as well as a diverse mix of other retail chains such as Leroy Merlin,

Decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄ ...

, 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 ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

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

, 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, ...

, face criticism for refusing to pull out from the Russian market as a result of the

Russian Invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

and even supporting the invasion through its Russian subsidiary.

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 Hurun () is a town in Jingxi, Guangxi, China. See also *List of township-level divisions of Guangxi This is a list of township-level divisions of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China (PRC). After province, prefectur ...

, he is 18th richest person in the world with a net worth of US$30 billion. Some of his family members reside in Néchin, Belgium. He has revealed that he has also spent less than he earns,Gérard Mulliez: "Toujours dépenser moins qu'on gagne"
in ''

L'Express (, stylized in all caps) is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre-right in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''R� ...

'', 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 (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

to protest about 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 () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...

'', 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 Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

s. 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. He is also affiliated with the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions, a European trade union. Career Thiollet attended a school in Châtelleraul ...

, Maxima, 1994 and 1997.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mulliez, Gerard 1931 births Living people People from Roubaix French businesspeople in retailing French businesspeople Officers of the Legion of Honour French Roman Catholics French billionaires