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Grizzly Bulls’ Billionaires Index

⬅ # 80 Eyal Ofer|# 82 Alexey Mordashov ➡

# 81 Emmanuel Besnier 

$25.0B

Real Time Net Worth
as of 5/13/2024
-$309 (-0.00%)

# 81 Emmanuel Besnier 

$25.0B

Real Time Net Worth
as of 5/13/2024
-$309 (-0.00%)
OccupationCEO, Lactalis
Source of WealthCheese
Age53
ResidenceLaval, France
Children3
Age-Adjusted Net Worth$40.1B
Emmanuel Besnier
Emmanuel Besnier
France
Net worth: $25.0B

Self-Made Score 

Wealth History

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Biography

Overview

Emmanuel Besnier, born in 1970, serves as the CEO and controlling shareholder of Lactalis, a family-held dairy giant with $20 billion in sales.
His father, Michel Besnier, founded the company in 1933, which has expanded its product line to include President brie, Milkmaid yogurts, and Valbreso feta.
Besnier and his siblings, Jean-Michel and Marie, collectively own the majority stake in Lactalis, with additional investments in Parmalat, the maker of Babybel, Frommageries Bel, and Boursin.
Lactalis, under Besnier's leadership, employs 85,000 people and operates more than 266 plants in 94 countries.
Besnier maintains a low profile, rarely speaking publicly or granting interviews since taking over the company at 29.
Few public photographs exist, with his private nature extending to Lactalis, which refuses to disclose financial details and opts for penalties over filing accounts.

Early Life and Dynasty

Born in Laval, Mayenne, France, Besnier spent most of his life in the region, home to the Lactalis headquarters founded by his grandfather in 1933.
His family owns a castle near Entrammes, and although his children attended a local private school, the family has since moved to Paris.
After a modest start as a camembert maker, Lactalis, formerly bearing the family name, gained global prominence under Besnier's father, Michel.
Besnier assumed leadership in 2000 and oversaw international acquisitions, propelling Lactalis to become the world's third-largest dairy group.

Controversies and Hard-Nosed Approach

Besnier has faced criticism from French dairy farmers for employing tough tactics to drive down wholesale prices.
Standoffs over pricing, including a 2011 dispute with Leclerc supermarket chain, have fueled tensions with farmers, who accuse him of 'paternalism.'
In 2017, after a complaint about privacy infringement, Lactalis broke its contract with a group of milk producers who aired grievances on a televised program.

Lactalis Salmonella Scandal

In 2017, Lactalis confronted a salmonella contamination scandal, recalling 12 million baby milk boxes from 83 countries.
Besnier was summoned by Bruno Lemaire to the French finance ministry regarding the scandal.

Personal Life

Besnier donates Euro 200,000 annually to the Francis-Le-Basser football stadium in Laval and received the 'Mayennais of the Year' award in 2006.
He married Sandrine, whom he met at the lycée, and they have three children. The family resides in the 7th arrondissement of Paris and owns a château in Entrammes inherited from his father.

How long would it take you to become as rich as Emmanuel Besnier?

If you started with $10,000 and invested an additional $500 each month at a 44.01% CAGR, it would take you 5 years to reach Emmanuel Besnier's net worth of $25.0B.

Is this realistic? It depends how closely the VIX-TA-Macro Advanced model performs to its history in the future. Since Grizzly Bulls launched on January 1, 2022, it's returned 40.45% compared to 10.08% for the S&P 500 benchmark.

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Emmanuel Besnier is very wealthy, but what's stopping you from reaching that same level of success? As summarized in our five fundamental rules to wealth building, becoming wealthy in a modern capitalist economy is not complicated. There's actually only three variables:

  1. Your starting capital
  2. Your earnings after expenses
  3. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of your savings

Most people start with zero or very little, so if you weren't born into wealth, don't fret! The majority of the fortunate folks listed in our Grizzly Bulls’ Billionaires Index came from middle class or lower backgrounds. The most distinguishing characteristic of the group is their ability to consistently earn a high CAGR on their savings.

Every billionaire has a unique strategy to achieve high CAGR. For Emmanuel Besnier, Cheese is the primary source. Whether you choose to invest your savings in your own businesses or the businesses of others is not as important. The salient piece of the puzzle is ensuring that your hard-earned savings are generating sufficient CAGR to reach your long term goals.

Most people simply invest their money in index funds and call it a day. There's nothing wrong with this approach, but it guarantees relative mediocrity. To achieve greatness, you need to invest your money to earn higher than average returns. In the long run, better investors will always finish ahead of better earners.

Source: Grizzly Bulls reporting

Methodology: Grizzly Bulls' Billionaires Index is a daily ranking of the world's billionaires and richest people. Grizzly Bulls strives to provide the most accurate net worth calculations available. We pull data from public equity markets, SEC filings, public real estate records, and other reputable sources.

The index is dynamic and updates daily at the close of U.S. stock market trading based on changes in the markets, economy, and updates to Grizzly Bulls' proprietary algorithm of personal wealth calculation. Stakes in public companies are tracked daily based on the relevant closing prices of the underlying securities. Additionally, stakes in private companies, cash, real estate, and other less easily valued assets are updated periodically through careful analysis of insider transactions, comparable public company sales / EBITDA multiples, etc.

Edited by: Lee Bailey