Xavier Niel Quotes

We have to help young people, because at the end of the day, we won't have an economy if we don't have them.

If you know how to make software, then you can create big things.

I'm always investing. I'm constantly in talks with someone about some opportunity.

When you love competition, you don't want the market to consolidate.

I'd rather people talked about the 1,000 most successful French Internet companies instead of the 5 or 10 faces we already know - including mine.

I like being an outsider. It is better in France on the outside.

I don't like clothes. I don't especially like cars. I have a very nice house. I get sick on a boat.

The question for France and all countries is, 'Do you favour foreign Internet operators that do not pay, or do you favour national operators who pay?'

France has a specificity - the market players who provide Internet access are the telecom operators, and all of the players are French. They had a habit of, let's say, getting along with each other, and the prices traditionally were very high.

Any country that wants to lower its mobile phone rates, all they need to do is bring in an aggressive player.

I once said, 'Steve Jobs is the American Xavier Niel,' but that was humour.

I made a lot of money, and I want to give something back to my country.

The most sought-after candidates in the world today by companies like mine are people who make computer software - there's a shortage of talent.

Nobody believed in the success of the Internet.

From France, you can call anywhere in the world for free. Americans can't do that!

You can spend your money on art works and sit down and look at them. Or you can use your money to help people.

It's funny how the smallest things I've done speak the loudest about me, but I like that.

I'm not unusual; it's the others who are strange.

YouTube is a problem. It has very big traffic, but it refuses to contribute to the weight of that traffic.

Mark Zuckerberg did his own software for Facebook, and Larry Page and Sergey Brin made their own for Google.

Each week I try to have three lunches with my children, one working lunch, and one lunch with mates.

Stephane Richard is far more attuned to the market than Didier Lombard.

We need to create an ecosystem which will make young people want to start their own company.

Countries like France should not be naive. We don't have a French YouTube or Amazon or Netflix.

I always follow the same idea: Start small and disrupt to create something big.