Bouygues

Bouygues is a French industrial group listed on Euronext Paris exchange and is a blue chip in the CAC 40 stock market index. The company was founded in 1952 by Francis Bouygues (educated at the École Centrale Paris, 1946) and since 1989 has been led by his son Martin Bouygues. In October 2005 it had over 113,300 employees in 80 countries. In 2004, it generated €23.4 billion in sales. Bouygues is also active in movie production, through the CiBy 2000 subsidiary (Little Buddha, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me) and in television with the TF1 Group, Europe's largest private channel.

History

The company was founded by Francis Bouygues in 1952.

In 1970 Bouygues became listed on the Paris Stock Exchange.

In 1987 The company started operating the television channel TF1.

In 1988 Bouygues moved into its new Head Office, Challenger, in Saint-Quentin en Yvelines.

In 1996 The company launched Bouygues Télécom.

In 2000 Bouygues acquired Colas.

In 2006 The company acquired 23.26% of Alstom.

Business structure

Bouygues has 5 divisions:

Bouygues Construction (100%) - construction;
Bouygues Immobilier (100%) - real estate;
Colas (95%) - Construction;
TF1 (42.9%) - French television network;
Bouygues Télécom (83%) - mobile phone network.

Related party transactions

In 2006 The Economist reported a complex series of transactions between 1989 and 1997 through which Martin and Olivier Bouygues were able to personally acquire assets in the firm, to the detriment of other shareholders.

Major construction projects

Bouygues has been involved in many major projects including the Parc des Princes completed in 1972, the Musée d'Orsay completed in 1986, the Île de Ré Bridge completed in 1988, the Grande Arche completed in 1989, the Hassan II Mosque completed in 1992, the Channel Tunnel completed in 1994, the Bibliothèque nationale de France completed in 1995, the Pont de Normandie completed in 1995 and the Stade de France completed in 1998.