Thierry Breton

Extracted Attributes

• Education

  Engineer degree from Supélec (1979); Lycée Louis-le-Grand; École alsacienne

• Occupation

  Businessperson, Politician, Writer, Professor

• Citizenship

  France

• Controversy

  Accused of potential conflicts of interest by Anticor due to previous corporate roles at Atos and France Télécom

• Date of Birth

  1955-01-15

• Place of Birth

  14th arrondissement of Paris, France

• Sanction Status

  Persona non grata in the United States; U.S. assets frozen as of 2025-12-23

Timeline

• Thierry Breton is born in Paris, France. (Source: Wikidata)

  1955-01-15

• Graduates as an engineer from Supélec. (Source: Web Search (Biography of Thierry Breton))

  1979-01-01

• Founds Forma Systems, a software engineering firm, which he ran for five years. (Source: Web Search (Biography of Thierry Breton))

  1981-01-01

• Appointed Vice-chairman and CEO of Groupe Bull. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1996-01-01

• Becomes Chairman and CEO of Thomson-RCA. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1997-01-01

• Appointed Chairman and CEO of France Télécom. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2002-01-01

• Enters politics as France's Minister for Economy, Finance and Industry under Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2005-02-25

• Begins a two-year tenure as a professor at Harvard Business School teaching Leadership and Corporate Accountability. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2007-01-01

• Joins Atos as Chairman and CEO, a position he held until 2019. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2009-01-01

• Assumes office as the European Commissioner for Internal Market. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2019-12-01

• Resigns from his position as European Commissioner. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2024-09-16

• Sanctioned by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Trump administration; assets frozen and barred from entering the U.S. due to his role in the Digital Services Act. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2025-12-23

Thierry Breton

Thierry Breton (French pronunciation: [tjɛʁi bʁətɔ̃]; born 15 January 1955) is a French business executive, politician, and writer who served as European Commissioner for Internal Market in the first von der Leyen Commission from 2019 to 2024. Breton was vice-chairman and CEO of Groupe Bull (1996–1997), chairman and CEO of Thomson-RCA (1997–2002) and chairman and CEO of France Télécom (2002–2005). In 2005, he entered politics, serving as minister for economy, finance and industry (2005–2007) in the governments of prime ministers Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Dominique de Villepin, during the presidency of Jacques Chirac. From 2007 to 2008 he was a professor at Harvard Business School, before joining group Atos from 2009 to 2019 as its CEO. From 2019, Breton served as the European Commissioner for Internal Market under the presidency of Ursula von der Leyen, an appointment that met with controversy, as he was considered by anti-corruption association Anticor to be at serious risk of conflicts of interest over his previous posts at France Télécom and Atos. Breton resigned from the position in 2024. On 23 December 2025, United States Secretary of state Marco Rubio sanctioned Breton, who masterminded the European Union Digital Services Act. Breton's U.S. assets are frozen, and Breton is persona non grata in the United States of America, thus forbidden to enter the Territories of the United States by the Trump administration, "over what it said was 'censorship' and coercion of US social media platforms".

Web Search Results

• Thierry Breton - Wikipedia

  Thierry Breton (French pronunciation: (/wiki/Help:IPA/French "Help:IPA/French"); born 15 January 1955) is a French business executive, politician, and writer who served as European Commissioner for Internal Market in the first von der Leyen Commission from 2019 to 2024. Breton was vice-chairman and CEO of Groupe Bull (1996–1997), chairman and CEO of Thomson-RCA (1997–2002) and chairman and CEO of France Télécom (2002–2005). In 2005, he entered politics, serving as minister for economy, finance and industry "Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry (France)") (2005–2007) in the governments of prime ministers Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Dominique de Villepin, during the presidency of Jacques Chirac. From 2007 to 2008 he was a professor at Harvard Business School, before joining group Atos [...] From 2019, Breton served as the European Commissioner for Internal Market under the presidency of Ursula von der Leyen, an appointment that met with controversy, as he was considered by anti-corruption association Anticor to be at serious risk of conflicts of interest over his previous posts at France Télécom and Atos. Breton resigned from the position in 2024. On 23 December 2025, United States Secretary of state Marco Rubio sanctioned Breton, who masterminded the European Union Digital Services Act. Breton's U.S. assets are frozen, and Breton is persona non grata in the United States of America, thus forbidden to enter the Territories of the United States by the Trump administration, "over what it said was 'censorship' and coercion of US social media platforms". [...] Article Talk Read Edit View history Tools Actions Read Edit View history General What links here Related changes Upload file Permanent link Page information Cite this page Get shortened URL Download QR code Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item Appearance From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia French businessman and politician (born 1955) | Thierry Breton |

• Biography of Thierry Breton - second French candidate to the ...

  [/vc\_column\_text][vc\_column\_text font\_size=”16″ line\_height=”24″ css=”.vc\_custom\_1639064087685{padding-top: 5% !important;padding-right: 5% !important;padding-bottom: 5% !important;padding-left: 5% !important;}”]Aged 64, and an engineer by training, former Economy and Finance Minister Thierry Breton is above all a recognized and respected business leader internationally. He was called in to head several major French IT and telecom companies to rescue them and was quite successful in turning then around. [...] Thierry Breton was behind the vote of a law to “modernize the economy”, to facilitate access to financial markets by small and medium-sized organizations, and to encourage research by promoting employee profit-sharing schemes. He was also one of the first people to make the “intangible economy” into a key priority for the Economy and Finance Ministry. Having himself directed corporations falling within the remit of his ministry, he requested that he be left outside matters in respect of he might have a potential conflict of interest (and was allowed to). At the end of this ministerial experience in 2007, he was a professor for almost 2 years at Harvard Business School, where he taught a course on Leadership and corporate accountability. [...] Born in Paris in 1955, Thierry Breton studied at the prestigious Ecole alsacienne and Lycée Louis le Grand. In 1979, he graduated as an engineer from Supelec, one of the prominent electrical engineering school. He began work teaching IT and mathematics at the French Lycée in New York before deciding, in 1981, to set up his own company “Forma Systems”, a systems analysis and software engineering firm, and ran it for the next five years.

• Former EU commissioner Thierry Breton sees himself as a savior for ...

  Thierry Breton believes in his destiny and is making sure anyone in doubt knows it. His public statements make clear that the former European commissioner for the internal market (2019-2024) sees himself playing a leading role, in France or in Europe, and in the near future. More precisely, in 2027, when French voters will elect a new president. In Brussels, he hopes things will shift at the top of European institutions. [...] Date: Loading date... Time: Loading time... # Former EU commissioner Thierry Breton sees himself as a savior for Europe By Virginie Malingre (Brussels, Europe bureau) 3 min read Subscribers only Letter from Brussels The former European commissioner for the internal market, Thierry Breton, at the Elysée Palace in Paris, October 14, 2024. The former European commissioner for the internal market, Thierry Breton, at the Elysée Palace in Paris, October 14, 2024. [...] "I have experience turning around impossible situations. That has been my life," Breton declared on France Inter on January 25. This time, he argued, it was the European Union and, with it, France that needed saving. Between the expansionist aims of Vladimir Putin's Russia, the commercial offensive of Xi Jinping's China and the ideological war waged by Donald Trump's United States against European integration, "the danger is existential," he repeated to Le Monde.

• Thierry Breton - The Commissioners - European Commission

  European Commission logo # Thierry Breton COMMISSIONER (2019-2024) Thierry Breton This website is no longer being updated. The content may be out-of-date and should be consulted for past reference only. To find information about the College of Commissioners for the term 2024-2029, go to the Commission’s main website. To access websites outside the archive, copy and paste the web addresses (URLs) into your browser, and remove the archive part. ## Responsibilities ### Mission letter ### European Parliament hearings ## Team Thierry Breton's team supports him in his daily work My team ## Media Gallery Pictures and videos ## News Read press releases and speeches. ## Calendar All calendar items ## Transparency

• Thierry Breton - POLITICO

  # Thierry Breton ICC judge sanctioned by US urges EU to fight back ## ICC judge sanctioned by US urges EU to fight back Nicolas Guillou said the Trump administration’s use of sanctions undermines European democracy and called for Europe to curb reliance on American tech. Von der Leyen’s management style ‘not good for Europe,’ says ex-commissioner ## Von der Leyen’s management style ‘not good for Europe,’ says ex-commissioner EU Parliament backs Thierry Breton in free speech spat with Washington ## EU Parliament backs Thierry Breton in free speech spat with Washington Former EU tech czar Thierry Breton doesn’t hate the US — even though it sanctioned him ## Former EU tech czar Thierry Breton doesn’t hate the US — even though it sanctioned him [...] US pressure revives call for powerful EU tech regulator ## US pressure revives call for powerful EU tech regulator Polish president aligns with Trump to block Brussels’ Big Tech law ## Polish president aligns with Trump to block Brussels’ Big Tech law Former EU tech czar says US sanctions against him put Brussels on ‘dangerous path’ ## Former EU tech czar says US sanctions against him put Brussels on ‘dangerous path’ ## The EU is in a political pressure cooker over its online rules U.S. attacks on EU tech rules are no longer a trade war sideshow, but a full-blown transatlantic dispute. ## US sanctions former EU commissioner and four Europeans over efforts to curb online hate speech [...] ## Michel Barnier slams ‘authoritarian drift’ in Brussels under Ursula von der Leyen The former French prime minister feels the Commission president sidelined him in the endgame of Brexit negotiations. ## Put on a tie and get off your laptop, EU’s top tech officials told Bureaucrats have been warned to speak only when spoken to when attending high-level meetings. ## Breton urges EU to flex its muscles on trade The market volatility caused by Trump’s back and forth on tariffs shows the U.S. “is not in a strong position,” the former EU commissioner tells Le Soir. ## Ursula von der Leyen tightens her grip on power The Commission president is further centralizing the EU executive in her second term. ## US presses Brussels for answers over EU social media law

• Award

  honorary citizenship

• Image

  

• Gender

  male

• Educated At

  Lycée Louis-le-Grand

• Instance Of

  Q5

• Occupation

  businessperson

• Citizenship

  France

• Date Of Birth

  1/15/1955

• Place Of Birth

  14th arrondissement of Paris