20:00 Long queues form in front of the concert hall. The audience is predominantly male and young. The 2,000 seats are sold out in a few hours. Business school students Arthur Meinrad and Leo Arnaud, both 19, bought their tickets for 30 euros. “We don’t ask for advice; instead we see his style, his presentation, his way of interacting with the public; we see that these can be inspiring. Xavier Niel is someone who knows how to be successful,” Arthur says. “He has a winding path, he didn’t study, he’s been to prison, he’s not an heir… he’s definitely interesting,” Leo adds.
“We are playing with the yellow line”
20:40 The Olympia was crowded. On the balcony, the traditional place for VIPs, we recognize the resigned Minister of Defense, Sébastien Lecornu, the former MP Thierry Solère, the banker Matthieu Pigasse, Xavier Niel’s wife Delphine Arnault, David Pujadas… Maxime Saada, the boss of the Channel and the president of Olympia is also there.
20:45 The lights go out. The Free founder appears on a giant screen in the video. “Good morning. I’m Xavier Niel, the AI avatar of Xavier Niel. Are you hot?”. The audience responds in unison, “Yes.”
The arrival of star Niel, this time live, who happily crossed the room before going on stage, was provoked by applause: “Wow!”. Let’s go to an hour of stand-up, punctuated by sketches shot with the impressive Lena Situations or YouTuber Squeezie.
“When you are a billionaire,” he begins, “it inspires two things: insults and fantasies.” For the first, he cites some tasty examples culled from social networks (“minitel pornographer!”). As for fantasies, he notes with amusement: “People think that I got Macron elected, that I eat caviar every morning… They’re right!”
He then begins to tell the story of his journey. The first is undoubtedly the most sensitive part: a month spent in pre-trial detention in 2004 on charges of pimping – he was later cleared at this point, but given a suspended sentence for concealing the misuse of social property. “Within 48 hours I had lost everything. My flat was confiscated, my accounts were blocked, many of my friends disappeared….” But it is from this experience that he offers his first, unconventional advice to anyone who wants to succeed in entrepreneurship: “Go to jail!” “. But of course with humour. He explains: “Judge Van Ruymbecke, who sent me to jail, told me, ‘Follow the yellow line, but never cross it.’ That is the best advice I have ever received. You have to play by the law, but you must not break it. Uber plays with taxi regulations in every country in the world, Airbnb plays with hotel regulations.”
“Chelou”
This is followed by praise for failure (“I am the biggest loser in the world, the king of crashes! We wanted to buy channel six, we pulled ourselves together, we wanted to buy back CGR, exactly”), for the crazy (“If your friends think you’re weird, that’s a good sign, Elon Musk is crazy”), optimism (“chess, I quickly forget that, for me it’s like a ‘game’ game), but also his passion for the catacombs of trust and, finally, his thoughts on the state of France. The broken social elevator, the lack of faith in diversity, the cult of diplomas beyond desires… Will Xavier Niel be able to position himself for future deadlines?
We saw a talkative man on stage, funny and demagogic, interesting and megalomaniac, but also emotional (at the end, with a misty look, talking about his parents and children). He seems to have won the public opinion. “I was expecting a lecture, not such a funny show,” Mallaury admits. “It’s not the advice that counts, it’s his energy,” says the young start-up founder Sylvain.
22:00 Xavier Niel disappears amidst cheers. Two songs end the night, a loud “C’est part pour le show” live from Nadiya and finally of course “My Way”.
