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Jean-Claude Decaux

Jean-Claude Decaux (15 September 1937 – 27 May 2016) was a French businessman and founder of advertising company JCDecaux. The company is now run by his sons, Jean-François Decaux and Jean-Charles Decaux.

Personal life

Jean-Claude Decaux was the son of a shoe salesman in Beauvais, France.

He was married with three children and lived in Paris.

He died on 27 May 2016 aged 78.[1]

Career

At the age of 18, inspired by an argument with his father over the family shoe store's window display, Jean-Claude started a business creating billboards along French roadways. In 1963, legislation in France placed restrictions on billboard use which forced Decaux out of business. He founded JCDecaux in 1964. He made a deal with the city of Lyon, proposing that he would build bus shelters and keep them clean in exchange for advertising space there. The company quickly expanded to other cities.

In 1980, Decaux personally designed the Sanisette public toilet, a self-cleaning public toilet, as a replacement for the pissoirs of Paris.

In January 2015, according to Forbes, he had a net worth of $6.2 billion.

See also

  • List of French billionaires by net worth
  • The World's Billionaires
  • Sanisette

References

  1. Eléanor Douet. Jean-Claude Decaux, l'inventeur de l'Abribus, est décédé à l'âge de 78 ans RTL, 27 May 2016^
  2. Roger Parry. The Ascent of Media: From Gilgamesh to Google via Gutenberg Nicholas Brealey, 22 September 2011^
  3. Outdoor-Advertising Pioneer Jean-Claude Decaux Dies at 78 Bloomberg.com, 27 May 2016^
  4. BusinessWeek^
  5. Ad tycoon Jean-Claude Decaux, pioneer of self-cleaning public toilets, dies at 78 27 May 2016^
  6. Jean-Claude Decaux, père de l'Abribus et roi de l'affichage publicitaire, est mort 27 May 2016^
  7. International Directory of Company Histories St. James Press, February 2006^
  8. Forbes List Directory Forbes^
  9. Jean-Claude Decaux Forbes, retrieved 1 January 2015^
  10. History of JCDecaux S.A.^
  11. Peter Hellman. The Toilet Wars New York Magazine, May 3, 1993^
  12. Clara Greed. Inclusive Urban Design: Public Toilets Routledge, June 2007^