Quotes from Xavier Niel

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

Giving only 50% of your fortune is not enough.

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.

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

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?'

'Entrepreneur' is a French word.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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