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The Dassaults have a net worth of about $US26 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The Dassault family’s business stretches back more than a century, when founder and aeronautical engineer Marcel Bloch designed a new type of propeller that was used in World War I.
Dassault Systemes began as a tiny spinoff from the Dassault clan’s historic aeronautics business. It is now the dynasty’s biggest business.Credit:AP
When Germany took over part of France during World War II, he refused to collaborate and was incarcerated with his family before being sent to concentration camps. After the conflict ended, he changed his name to Dassault, a play on the word “assault” and an allusion to an alias used by his brother, General Paul Bloch, who fought in the French resistance.
Dassault’s son, Serge, took over when his father died, and Serge’s surviving children, Laurent, Thierry and Marie-Helene, along with their late brother’s daughter, make up the holding company’s supervisory board. The empire they oversee spans aviation, media, real estate, software, vineyards and an art auction house.
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In February, the family expanded into finance with a decision to invest in Rothschild & Co. to help take the eponymous bank private. Among other French dynasties backing the deal are the owners of luxury giant Chanel, the Wertheimers, and the Peugeot carmaking clan.
Bloomberg
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