Édouard de Rothschild

Édouard de Rothschild started his career at the New York bank Wertheim. He then moved to Paris to work for Eurofin, Georges Plescoff’s new bank. In 1982, he joined his half-brother David René de Rothschild and cousin Éric de Rothschild to recapitalize and relaunch Rothschild & Cie Banque. In July 2003, he became the head of the bank. He stepped down in June 2004 saying he would remain involved as the non-executive chairman of the bank’s supervisory board while taking on projects unrelated to finance. Until May 2005, he was a member of the Supervisory Board at Imerys S.A., a company the family had been a majority or significant shareholder in since 1880.

In January 2005, Édouard de Rothschild invested €20 million for a 37% controlling stake in the French newspaper Libération. The left-wing daily was founded by philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre and Maoist militant journalist Serge July in 1973 but in recent years has sustained substantial losses. In 2010, he became president of the board of Libération and moved to Israel. His shares were heavily diluted when, in 2014, Patrick Drahi became the new owner of the newspaper.

He owns a share of the Château Lafite vineyard. He is a member of the think tank Le Siècle.

Édouard has been married twice, first in 1982, to Mathilde Alexe Marie Christiane Coche de la Ferté (b. 1952), former wife of Sir Valentine Abdy. The marriage ended in divorce. In 1991, he married Arielle Marie Mallard (b. 1963), the vice-president of CARE France; she previously worked at the World Bank and Lazard Frères. Together, they have four children:

1. David de Rothschild (born 1998, twin)
2. Aliénor Marie-Hélène Jacqueline de Rothschild (born 1998, twin)
3. Ferdinand de Rothschild
4. Louis de Rothschild

An avid horse enthusiast, Édouard de Rothschild competes both nationally and internationally in equestrian show jumping. In 1973, he was disqualified from the Junior French Cup, which shattered his dream to become a professional horse racer. He inherited the Haras de Meautry stud farm in Toques in Basse-Normandie where he breeds thoroughbred race horses. His involvement in racing led to his 2003 election as President of the French horse racing association France Galop, replacing the defunct Jean-Luc Lagardère (reelected in 2015). Being of partial Jewish descent, he accepted an invitation in 2010 from the Israeli Equestrian Federation to represent Israel in international competitions. He used his Israeli nationality to compete in the 2012 Olympics but his horse Lamm de Fétan was hurt before the competition.