Claude Bébéar, who died on November 4, 2025, at the age of 90, remains a figure of French capitalism. Announced by AXA, the passing of the builder sheds light on a journey marked by methodical audacity, rugby loyalties, and a taste for connection that shaped a global group. This portrait explores the man behind the strategist: his method of integration, his networks, his public engagement, and his areas of shadow.
A boss who thought of himself as a team captain
He hated grandstanding. Claude Bébéar spoke softly, looked straight, sought the right pass rather than the solitary exploit. Rugby served as his compass: collective effort, well-trodden field, victory without unnecessary flair. Those who approached him describe a leader who listens before deciding, then executes quickly – without noise, without resentment. Hence his reputation as the "godfather of French capitalism," less for brilliance than for authority.
In committees, he favored simple words, focused objectives: clarity and loyalty. Success is measured by the quality of the teams, he repeated; and by the ability to stay the course in the storm. Nothing brilliant: a discipline of the everyday, patiently woven.
The builder: a method more than a myth
His work is often reduced to AXA’s acquisitions. Yet this misses the essential. For him, size was not a trophy. It was a condition of stability for the insured. It helped absorb shocks. It allowed investment in prevention and service. He had a fixed idea: integrate quickly. And give a common sense to houses from different backgrounds.
Rituals then emerge: internal universities, "axagrams," priorities held as one holds a course. AXA becomes a banner more than a logo – a shared alphabet. The obsession: to maintain control over steering after each operation, to avoid soft mergers that drag on.
The milestones are known in AXA’s history: Drouot for the French anchorage, the Compagnie du Midi for the art of timing and alliances, The Equitable (which became AXA Equitable) to cross the Atlantic, National Mutual to establish in the Southern Hemisphere, the acquisition of UAP in 1996 to change scale in Europe, Nippon Dantaï to enter Japan. But the story is not an epic of ego. It adheres to a grammar: international consolidation, critical mass, unified culture, respect for the client.
Govern without fuss, transmit without delay
To govern, for Bébéar, is to choose quickly and transmit early. He imposes the rigor of numbers, but leaves field managers the initiative that fosters growth. He likes short organizations, clear responsibilities, speed of execution during a merger. The politeness of meetings changes nothing: decisions are made, assumed, explained.
When he hands over to Henri de Castries at the turn of the 2000s, he applies his favorite rule to himself: do not linger. Chairman of the Supervisory Board, then honorary chairman in 2008, he keeps his distance and advises without oversight. The prepared succession remains, in his eyes, the first duty of a leader.
The art of connection: networks, conversation, loyalties
There was talk of the "Bébéar gang." The term amuses less than it illuminates. Around him, French leaders – Bernard Arnault, Vincent Bolloré, Serge Kampf, Henri Lachmann, David de Rothschild, Michel Pébereau, among others – gather in an informal circle where ideas and doubts are confronted, where taxation, employment, innovation are discussed.
There is neither party nor dogma. Rather a place of conversation that mixes business, curiosities, and these constant passions: rugby and the table. Bébéar plays his role: discreet arbiter, catalyst of trust. It is perhaps here, more than in financial operations, that his talent is expressed: holding things together.
From the boardroom to public debate
In the early 2000s, he founded the Institut Montaigne, a private think tank. Its mission is to illuminate reforms with data and comparisons. It publishes notes, figures, and evaluations. The funding is mainly private. The influence on the French debate is real.
Ideas defended:
- Reduce public spending and deficits.
- Lighten the burdens on labor and capital.
- Challenge the ISF for productive investment.
- Relax the 35-hour workweek and value effective work.
- Reform pensions towards a points-based system.
- Raise the effective retirement age.
- Open sectors to regulated competition.
- Measure results and cut what fails.
- Give more autonomy to schools and universities.
- Strengthen prevention and hospital efficiency.
- Relax the labor market, secure career paths.
His supporters speak of responsible reformism and budgetary realism. His opponents see it as a challenge to social gains.
The associative world is not foreign to him. Under his impetus, AXA supports solidarity initiatives. In 1997, an American Point of Light Award salutes this commitment.
The man uncovered, what is less known
The strategist is remembered, the man is less known. Rugby inhabits him: a school of sobriety and camaraderie. He loves gourmet pleasures without ostentation and late-night conversations when the argument holds. His attachment to the Southwest is not folklore. It is a way of being: word kept and simple tastes.
Faced with tributes, he would shy away. Glory embarrassed him. He preferred results to stories. Symbols had their place, no more. A sign to recognize each other. Never a totem to absolve oneself. He also knew how to doubt. For intellectual hygiene, not out of weakness.
He claims a discreet Catholic culture. Faith lived without a banner. Primacy of duty, effort, and responsibility. This foundation sheds light on some of his public positions.
Socially, given the positions of his think tank, it’s a different story: priority to "pro-market" reforms. Less state, more efficiency. Defense of management by numbers. Social gains are often questioned.
In societal matters, he is clearly a conservative. Father of five children, he values the traditional family model. According to Le Canard enchaîné (January 16, 2013), he may have even supported La Manif pour Tous.
What his trajectory says about France and the present time
The rise of AXA tells of an industrial France that, in the 1980s-1990s, learns to speak global. For Bébéar, economic patriotism is not a fortress; it’s a springboard. International openness does not contradict local demands: it makes them possible.
At a time when insurance faces climate risks, pandemics, inflation of claims, his compass seems relevant: combining actuarial prudence and strategic audacity. Scale matters, but culture holds the house. It is this invisible architecture – training, vocabulary, reflexes – that allows groups to endure.
Useful references
- Name: Claude Bébéar
- Birth: July 29, 1935, in Issac (Dordogne)
- Education: École polytechnique (X 1955); Institut des actuaires
- Career: started at Anciennes Mutuelles in Rouen (1958), appointed general manager in 1975
- Key achievements: Drouot (1982), Compagnie du Midi (1986-1988), The Equitable (which became AXA Equitable) (1991-1992), UAP (1996), Nippon Dantaï (1999)
- Positions: Chairman of the Management Board, Chairman of the Supervisory Board (2000), Honorary Chairman of AXA (2008)
- Commitments: founder of the Institut Montaigne, patronage and solidarity actions
- Death: November 4, 2025, at 90 years old