Since this blog is dedicated to the swashbucklers who dare to shake things up, I'm adding this story.
Read the rest about Xavier Niel and his company Iliad here.Iliad's warrior
From The Economist print edition
The rise of Xavier Niel, a controversial internet entrepreneur, says a lot about French business“IF I commit suicide, or if I die in a car accident in the next three months or so, you will know the threats were serious, because I am not feeling at all suicidal and I drive very slowly.” Xavier Niel, the founder of Iliad, a young broadband firm which has upended France’s internet-access market and wants to do the same for mobile telephony, says he is prepared for any attempts at intimidation. In 2004 an executive from TF1, a French television firm which was withholding its programming from Iliad’s multimedia packages, reportedly told one of Mr Niel’s colleagues: “I am going to nail you down on the wall in blood.”
He may be a bit paranoid, but Mr Niel plans to wreak financial violence on France’s dominant telecoms firms. After years of deliberation and fierce opposition from the big three—Orange, owned by the former monopoly, France Telecom; SFR, part of Vivendi, a media giant; and Bouygues Telecom, part of a conglomerate which also part-owns TF1—the government invited bids for a fourth mobile licence on August 1st. If Iliad wins, as is expected, it aims to launch a service under its brand, Free, by 2012
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