Édouard Etienne Alphonse de Rothschild (French pronunciation: [edwaːʁ etjɛn alfɔ̃s də ʁɔtʃild]) (born December 27, 1957 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine) is a businessman and part of the French branch of the prominent Rothschild family. He is the son of Guy de Rothschild (1909–2007) and Marie-Hélène van Zuylen van Nyevelt (1927–1996).
Édouard de Rothschild studied law in France and in 1985 graduated with an M.B.A. degree from the Stern School of Business at New York University.
In 1982, he married Mathilde Alexe Marie Christiane Coche de la Ferté (b.1952), former wife of Sir Valentine Abdy, 6th Bt.. The marriage ended in divorce and he remarried in 1991 to Arielle Marie Mallard (b.1963). His children are:
In addition to owning a share in the Château Lafite vineyard, in July 2003, Édouard de Rothschild was made head of Rothschild & Cie Banque, the Paris based bank he founded in 1987 with his half-brother David René de Rothschild and cousin Eric de Rothschild. He stepped down in June 2004 saying he would remain involved as the non-executive chairman of the bank's supervisory board while taking on projects unrelated to finance. Until May 2005, he was a member of the Supervisory Board at Imerys S.A., a company the family had been a majority or significant shareholder in since 1880.
An avid horse enthusiast, Édouard de Rothschild competes both nationally and internationally in equestrian show jumping. He inherited the Haras de Meautry stud farm in Toques in Basse-Normandie where he breeds thoroughbred race horses. His involvement in racing led to his 2004 election as President of the French horse racing association, "France Galop."
In January 2005, Édouard de Rothschild invested 20 million euros for a 37% majority shareholding in the French newspaper Libération. The left-wing daily was founded by philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre and Maoist militant journalist Serge July in 1973 but in recent years has sustained substantial losses.
Édouard de Rothschild's wife, Arielle, is the vice-president of the humanitarian organization CARE France and represents her country on the Board of Directors of CARE International.