Louis Dreyfus Group

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Louis Dreyfus S.A.S.
Type Société par actions simplifiée
Industry Conglomerate
Founded 1851
Founder(s) Léopold Louis-Dreyfus
Headquarters Paris, France
Area served Worldwide
Key people Serge Schoen, CEO
Products Energy trading, Raw materials, renewable and biomass energy, commodities
Revenue US$ 46 billion (2010)
Employees 34,000 (2011)
Website www.louisdreyfus.com

Louis Dreyfus Group is a French global conglomerate company that is involved in agriculture, oil, energy and commodities (global processing, trading and merchandising), as well as international shipping. It also owns and manages ocean vessels, develops and operates telecommunications infrastructures and is involved in real estate (development, management and ownership).

The company Louis Dreyfus Holding BV has its headquarters in the World Trade Center Amsterdam in Amsterdam.[1]

Louis Dreyfus companies are present in more than 90 countries, with 72 offices. Major offices are located in Geneva, Beijing, Buenos Aires, Paris, São Paulo, New York and Connecticut.

Aggregate average annual gross sales in recent years have exceeded $120 billion. The company employs 35,000.

History

The company was founded in 1851, in Alsace, by Léopold Louis-Dreyfus, who developed a fortune while still a teenager through cross-border cereal trading. He rapidly diversified across shipping, weapons manufacturing, agriculture, oil and banking, thus establishing one of the wealthiest dynasties in Europe.[2] His descendants still own the company to this day. By the early 20th century, the Louis-Dreyfus family was described as one of the "five great fortunes of France".[3] However, as a Jewish family during the Second World War, much of the family assets were confiscated by the Vichy government, and some members of the family fled to America.[4]

Leopold Louis-Dreyfus's great-grandson, Gérard Louis-Dreyfus, was chairman of Louis Dreyfus Energy Services, a subsidiary of the group involved in crude-oil trading, gas investments and infrastructure. Gérard is also the father of American actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the Emmy-winning star of Seinfeld. Another branch of the dynasty, based in Paris, was headed by Robert Louis-Dreyfus (who was also the CEO of Adidas) until his death in 2009. It is currently overseen by his widow, Russian-born Margarita Bogdanova Louis-Dreyfus. A third-branch of the family's business is headed by Philippe Louis-Dreyfus (born 1945) and is concerned primarily with offshore industrial activities and freight-shipping operations.

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑ "Contacts." Louis Dreyfus Group. Retrieved on October 30, 2012. "WTC Amsterdam Tower H - Level 25 Zuidplein 208 1077 XV Amsterdam The Netherlands"
  2. ↑ Saatchi & Saatchi: The Inside Story, By Alison Fendley, page 100, Arcade Publishing, 8 Oct 1996
  3. ↑ Buried By The Times: The Holocaust And America's Most Important Newspaper, Laurel Leff, Cambridge University Press, Mar 2005, page 81
  4. ↑ The History of Foreign Investment in the United States, 1914-1945, Harvard University Press, 2004, By Mira Wilkins, page 479
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