Xavier Niel Quotations

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.

In life, you need a house and a car. After that, you have a choice.

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

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

France has the least social mobility of any developed country. The social elevator no longer works. It's broken.

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

I know one business, and that's how to make software.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Telecoms is a national business. There isn't a European market. There's no Telecom Italia in France.

France is a fantastic country. It's between the Anglo-Saxon and Latin cultures. We have some of the Anglo-Saxon rigor, and some of the Latin quirkiness.

The real force of Silicon Valley is the mentality, the spirit. There's no reason at all that can't be replicated in Paris.

A free, analytical and questioning press must be helped survive.

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

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

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

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

Giving only 50% of your fortune is not enough.

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

I don't think Steve Jobs had much desire to share his fortune.

I have done a lot of stupid things in my life.

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

If you are worried about the risk to your reputation, you don't launch a telecoms firm in an aggressive way.

Nobody believed in the success of the Internet.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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?'

We have 200,000 kids a year who drop out of the French school system and have no hope. They become a drag on society.

Personally, I have invested in around ten U.S. companies and will continue to do so. That doesn't give me a strong experience in the American market. But I have an understanding of the public.

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.