Starting Off
He joined the Bouygues group in 1974 as works supervisor, before holding positions in sales management. In 1978, he founded Maison Bouygues, a catalogue real estate business. In 1982, he was appointed director of Bouygues’ Board of Directors. In 1984, the Bouygues group and Maison Bouygues acquired SAUR, a French water treatment and distribution company. In 1989, he became Chairman and CEO of Maison Bouygues. In 1987, he was appointed Vice-Chairman of the Board.
Whereas everyone expected it to be the eldest son, Nicolas Bouygues, an engineer graduated from École Centrale Paris (as were the father, Francis Bouygues and grandfather, Georges Bouygues), Martin, despite having only an undergraduate diploma, was appointed Chairman and CEO on 5 September 1989. In fact, his elder brother had been unable to get along with his father to become Chairman and CEO.
Read more about this topic: Martin Bouygues
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