Gabriel Naouri
French CEO and entrepreneur (born 1981)
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Gabriel Naouri (born July 6, 1981) is a French CEO and entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Majorelle Investments (co-controlled with Apollo Capital Management). He was previously co-founder and Chairman of Yandex.Market, and deputy head of international operations of Groupe Casino.
Gabriel Naouri | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 6, 1981 |
| Education | Paris Dauphine University |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Years active | 2004– |
Biography
Education
Gabriel Naouri graduated from the Paris Dauphine University (France) with a master's degree in applied mathematics. He later enrolled in the “Global Leadership and Public Policy” program at Harvard University in 2011. Gabriel Naouri is a certified board member from Sciences Po Paris and NYSE Euronext.[1]
Early career
In 2004, Gabriel Naouri joined the M&A department of Rothschild & Cie Banque in New York City.[2]
He then became a marketing manager in the Consumer Products division of L’Oréal USA Garnier in New York City.[3]
Groupe Casino
Gabriel Naouri joined Groupe Casino in 2007. Since his start at Groupe Casino, he went through different operational stages alike the Michelin model. He started at a Géant Casino Hypermarket in Rennes, where he held different positions.[4] successively as baker, butcher, checkout employee, cleaner, etc. Throughout those training years, Gabriel Naouri attended the traditional Casino training program at the Group headquarters in Saint-Etienne. After becoming fruits and vegetables section manager at Géant Casino of Mandelieu-La-Napoule, he was successively appointed as executive director at the Géant Casino of Fenouillet (Toulouse)[5][6] and then as head of operations of the hypermarket division in France.[7][2]
In June 2012, Gabriel Naouri was appointed head of brand, digital, and innovation of the Casino Group in France.[8][9] He led the group's first foray in augmented reality,[10] NFC technology,[11] and drive-ins.[12]
From 2014 to 2017, he served as Deputy head of international operations (12 000 stores) of Groupe Casino[13] where he was responsible for the launch and coordination of international action plans in line with the group strategy. He has created and launched Cdiscount in Thailand and Vietnam.[14] In 2017, he was involved with private equity fund Advent International in the potential acquisition of The Body Shop.[15] Naouri left the Groupe Casino in July 2017.[16]
New technology
After leaving the Groupe Casino, Gabriel Naouri became a senior advisor to Motoya Okada, CEO of the Japanese retail and financial services company Æon.[17] He personally invested in the medical apparel company Jaanuu,[18] and the ecommerce website Boxed.com.[19] In 2018, he co-founded the ecommerce company Yandex.Market[20] and raised $500 million to launch it.[21] He sold his shares of Yandex.Market to Yandex' CEO and founder Arkady Volozh in June 2020 for $1.5 billion.[22]
Maisons du Monde
In August 2020, Majorelle Investments – an investment holding company co-controlled by Gabriel Naouri and Daniel Kretinsky – announced owning more than 5% of furniture and home decor company Maisons du Monde.[23]
In March 2021, Majorelle Investments announced owning more than 10% of the company.[23][24]
In November 2021, Gabriel Naouri and Apollo Global Management bought back Daniel Kretinsky's stake in Majorelle Investments.
In March 2022, Majorelle Investments announced owning more than 16% of Maisons du Monde.[25] In June 2023, Majorelle reached 25% of ownership in Maisons du Monde and Naouri was appointed to the board of the company.[26]
In January 2025, through his investment company Sana Holdings, Naouri bought a controlling stake in the American clothing company True Religion.[27][28]
Honours
- Elected Young Global Leader in 2008 by the World Economic Forum (2008)[29]
- Named among the 30 most influential people in their 30s by the Optimum Magazine (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012)[30]
- Named among the 100 economic leaders of tomorrow by Le Figaro Magazine (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021)[31]