Business and technologyפטריק דרהי

Patrick Drahi

Patrick Drahi is a French-Israeli businessman in media and telecoms who founded the telecom group Altice and the news channel i24NEWS.

born 1963Founding the telecom group AlticeFounding the news channel i24NEWSOwning the cable company HOTBuying Sotheby's

Born: 20 August 1963, Casablanca
Occupation: entrepreneur
Education: École polytechnique, Télécom Paris, Lycée Joffre
Founded: UltraEdge (2023), i24NEWS (2013), Altice (2001), 2024)

Patrick Drahi was born in 1963 in Casablanca

Drahi was born in 1963 into a Jewish family in Casablanca, Morocco. Both of his parents taught mathematics. When he was 15, the family moved to Montpellier, France.

He studied engineering at École Polytechnique in Paris. In 1986 he completed a postgraduate degree in optics and electronics at Télécom Paris.

He worked as a fiber optics researcher at Philips and left in 1990 to start his own business. In 1994 he founded Sud Câble Services in France and sold it to UPC in 1998. In 2001 he founded Altice, which bought cable companies across Europe, and in 2013 it bought the French operator SFR.

In Israel he took control of the cable company HOT and in 2013 founded the news channel i24NEWS. In 2015 Altice entered the US market, and in 2019 he bought the auction house Sotheby's. From 2023 Altice faced a debt crisis, and he sold assets to reduce its debt.

He married Lina in 1990, and they have 4 children. In 2014 they created a family foundation. In 2024 he moved to Tel Aviv.