Patrick Drahi

Patrick Drahi (; ; born 20 August 1963) is an Israeli billionaire magnate and investor with interests in media and telecoms. A former French citizen, he has been living in Switzerland since 1999. He is the founder and controlling shareholder of the European-based telecom group Altice, listed on the European Euronext Stock Exchange and Patrick Drahi also owns 24.5% of BT Group. Early life Drahi was born in Casablanca, Morocco to a Jewish family. When he was 15 years old, the family moved to Montpellier, France. His parents are both maths teachers. Drahi has an engineering degree from École Polytechnique in Paris, and a post-graduate degree in optics and electronics from Télécom Paris. Business career Drahi's business career began when he and an American partner convinced mayors in southern France to allow them to lay cable for television in their towns. This company was later sold to John C. Malone's UPC. Drahi was paid in UPC stock and went to Geneva to work for the company. He sold his position in UPC for approximately 40 million Euros just before the dot-com bubble burst. In 2001, he founded the Amsterdam-based holding company Altice ATCE.AS, which soon began to buy up European cable companies. Drahi owns the Israeli cable television company HOT.