Alain Weill is one of the French media executives who have done the most to transform the media since the 2000s. Born on April 6, 1961, in Strasbourg, he took over RMC when the station was losing ground, created BFM TV, built the NextRadioTV group, then ran SFR and Altice France before stepping away from the media in 2021 to focus in particular on luxury hospitality. The Alain Weill biography below is a textbook case of value creation in the media, and of how an entrepreneur can monetize his group.
Who Is Alain Weill? Education and Early Radio Career
After earning a degree in economics, Alain Weill joined the Institut supérieur des affaires, since renamed the MBA program of HEC Paris, at the age of 22, graduating in 1984. As early as 1982, he was involved in Radio Cocktail, a student free radio station in Paris, at a time when the liberalization of the FM band was giving rise to hundreds of stations.
From 1985 to 1989, he was director of the NRJ station network. After a spell at Quarare (the Sodexo group) and at the Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT), where he briefly ran the Maxximum station, he returned to NRJ Group in 1992 as a board member and chief executive. He chaired NRJ Régie from 1995 and became vice-chairman of the group’s management board in 1997.
2000: Alain Weill, NextRadio and the RMC Bet
In 2000, Alain Weill founded NextRadio and bought RMC, a historic station whose audience was then in free fall. He repositioned it around three pillars: news, debates (talk shows) and sport. A symbol of this pivot: the purchase, for about 500,000 euros, of the exclusive radio rights to the 2002 football World Cup. In 2002, NextRadio also took over BFM radio at the auction held by the Nanterre commercial court and successfully refocused it on business news.
2005: The Birth of BFM TV
On May 9, 2005, the Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel selected his project for a 24-hour news channel as part of the allocation of digital terrestrial television (DTT) frequencies. BFM TV launched on November 28, 2005. NextRadio became NextRadioTV, a group in which Alain Weill was chief executive and a shareholder with a stake of about 36%. Within a few years, BFM TV became the most-watched news channel in France, a position it would hold for many years.
The group diversified: the acquisition of Groupe Tests (01 Informatique, Micro Hebdo) in 2007, then of the business daily La Tribune from Bernard Arnault in 2008. In May 2010, he sold 80% of La Tribune while keeping 20%. In 2014, he stated his ambition to make BFM TV “the French-language equivalent of CNN International”.
NextRadioTV on the Stock Exchange and the Sale to Altice
NextRadioTV was listed on the Paris stock exchange, which allowed investors to track the group’s value creation. In 2015, Alain Weill reached an agreement with Patrick Drahi, founder of Altice, the owner of SFR, for SFR to enter the capital of NextRadioTV, ahead of a progressive takeover. The group was then delisted and integrated into Altice, giving rise to Altice’s media division in France (BFM, RMC).
For an entrepreneur, this is the culmination of a classic cycle: creation, development, listing, then sale to an industrial player. For minority shareholders, the deal illustrates the appeal of mid-cap companies, which can become the target of a takeover offer.
2017-2021: SFR CEO and Head of Altice France
On November 10, 2017, following the resignation of Michel Combes, Alain Weill was appointed CEO of SFR, which had become Altice France. In May 2018, he also became chief executive of Altice Europe. He took the helm of the operator at a delicate time: SFR had lost many subscribers and Altice’s debt was worrying the markets. His mission was to stabilize the customer base and improve the quality of the network.
In February 2019, he took a personal majority stake in L’Express magazine through his company News Participations, becoming its chairman and publishing director. At the end of June 2021, he officially stepped back from his media activities and left his positions at Altice France and SFR.
A Second Career in Luxury Hospitality
In parallel, Alain Weill developed a property and hotel project on the Côte d’Azur. In La Croix-Valmer, in the Var, he bought several hotels and restaurants and opened a five-star establishment, the Lily of the Valley, in 2019. The project drew mixed reactions locally, between satisfaction at the economic benefits and concerns about access to the coastline. In 2022, he opened a spin-off of the property in Courchevel. In 2022, Challenges magazine estimated his fortune at 275 million euros.
He is a chevalier (knight) of the Legion of Honour (2010).
Alain Weill Career Timeline: Key Dates
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1961 | Born in Strasbourg (April 6) |
| 1985-1989 | Head of the NRJ network |
| 1997 | Vice-chairman of NRJ Group’s management board |
| 2000 | Founds NextRadio, acquires RMC |
| 2002 | Takes over BFM radio |
| 2005 | Launch of BFM TV (November 28) |
| 2008 | Acquisition of La Tribune |
| 2017 | CEO of SFR / Altice France |
| 2019 | Takes control of L’Express; opens the Lily of the Valley |
| 2021 | Steps back from media activities |
What His Career Teaches Investors
- Repositioning a struggling asset can create a lot of value. RMC and BFM were in decline when they were taken over; a clear positioning (sport and debates, business news) revived them.
- In the media, value is often created at the exit. The sale of NextRadioTV to Altice crystallized the value built up over fifteen years.
- Telecoms are a capital-intensive business. Alain Weill’s time at SFR is a reminder that, in telecoms, debt and investment in networks weigh heavily. For comparison, consult our analysis of the Orange share, SFR’s main competitor, and of the Publicis share, a listed advertising player that depends on the same budgets as the media.
To take short-term positions on media and telecom stocks, some investors use CFDs; our review of Vantage covers a broker that offers them. CFDs are leveraged products with a high risk of loss. This article is for information only and does not constitute investment advice.
Further reading: Alain Merieux
FAQ
Who created BFM TV?
Alain Weill, through his group NextRadioTV. The channel launched on November 28, 2005.
Did Alain Weill run SFR?
Yes, he served as SFR CEO and CEO of Altice France from November 2017 to June 2021, and as chief executive of Altice Europe from 2018.
What does Alain Weill do today?
After stepping away from the media in 2021, he has focused in particular on luxury hospitality, with the Lily of the Valley property in La Croix-Valmer and then in Courchevel.