Until 1998
Lycos, France
Advertising sales
Sold advertising space on the Lycos and Tripod sites in France, in the first years of the commercial web.
Timeline
The Career, Year By Year
From France’s first online marketplaces to bakeries in Shanghai, a brand run from New York, restaurants on the Riviera and a financial infrastructure in Dubai.
6:13PAUL Bakery China On TelevisionWatch On YouTube
PAUL Opens In ShanghaiWatch On YouTube
6:32Pavilion Costes, Shanghai: The Grand OpeningWatch On YouTube1998 to 2002
iBazar Group, acquired by eBay in 2001, Paris
Commercial director, member of the executive committee
iBazar launched in France in October 1998 as an auction site between private sellers. eBay absorbed it in 200110. He was part of it before and after the acquisition.
Source: 10.
2002 to 2005
Maporama, Paris
Advertising and business development director, Europe
Online mapping services for companies and the public.
2005 to 2010
Levillair Group and PAUL China, Shanghai
Founder of the group, founder and chief executive of PAUL China
The group held the franchise of the French bakery brand PAUL for mainland China. The first bakeries opened in 200711. Shanghai Daily counted nine opened in twenty months2. Chinese state television presented him as chief executive and founder of PAUL China in October 20081.
PAUL China welcomed trainees from Shanghai Young Bakers, a charity programme that teaches French bakery to young people3.
He sold Levillair Group to a Chinese retail group, which rebranded the bakeries.
Sources: 1, 2, 3, 11.
2009
Pavilion Costes, Shanghai
Opened and run with Laurence Levillair
A restaurant and lounge over four storeys and 1,800 square metres in Xintiandi, with interiors by Jacques Garcia. Shanghai Daily described it as the first Hôtel Costes venue outside France2.
Source: 2.
2011 to 2016
Le Pain Quotidien, France
Chief executive for France, and franchise owner
The brand, founded in Brussels, was then led from a head office in New York13. In 2014 the trade press presented him as directeur général of Le Pain Quotidien Provence, in charge of developing the French market. In May 2014 the brand opened on the Croisette in Cannes, after Aix-en-Provence and Marseille4.
His French holding company, Hardi Investissements, created in 20135, was wound up through a court liquidation in 20166. The Q&A explains why.
Sources: 4, 5, 6, 13.
2025 to today
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Financial Infrastructure
Building an infrastructure that links digital capital to real-world assets. More on the fintech page.