Pierre Saintonge
Pierre Saintonge | |
|---|---|
| File:Marlon Brando.jpg Pierre Saintonge in 1985 | |
| Born | Pierre Mikel Gregore Saintonge April 8, 1948 Austremer, Karazawa |
| Nationality |  Karazawi |
| Occupation | CEO of Grupu Iauanijapunda |
| Net worth | 20 billion USD (April 2019) |
| Spouse(s) | Uina Nachaqisecha |
| Children | 7 |
Pierre Saintonge is a Karazawi is a business magnate, investor and philanthropist. He derived his fortune from his extensive holdings in a considerable number of Karazawi companies through his Conglomerate: Grupu Iauanijapunda. He is ranked as the second richest man in Karazawa with him and his family having a net worth estimated at 82 trillion Cushek (20 million USD).
His conglomerate includes freight and passenger shipping companies, industrial manufacturing, transportation, real estate, media, hospitality, entertainment, high-technology, retail, sports and financial services. He accounts for 20% of the listings on the Mexican Stock Exchange, while his net worth is equivalent to about 1 percent of Karazawa's gross domestic product.
Early life
Pierre Mikel Gregore Saintonge was born on April 8, 1948, in Austremer, to Jules Saintonge, a Ship chandler. He received business lessons from his father who taught him finance, management and accounting, teaching him how to read financial statements as well as the importance of keeping accurate financial records. He began working at his father's shop at the age of 15. The next year he was introduced to the Democratic Lodge, one of the many secret club opposing the regime of Kuruch Malnonfi, famous for the arrest of thirteen of its members in 1970, accused of being part of a gun trafficking ring. Both his father and him had been threatened during the investigation, but ultimately nothing could be proven against them.
Nonetheless, the Malnonfist administration blacklisted the Saintonge family, and it had to rely on familial and social link for their business to survive. Pierre was sent to the hospitality management school of Lauzierse as a way to escape the escape the regime's retaliation against the members of the Democtratic Lodge in Austremer. He would return in 1974 with his diplôme to a city where the Malnonfi Regime had given up trying to enforce its law, and where the divide was no longer between the Malnonfists and the Resistants, but between the Republicans and the Royalists.
Business career
At first, he resumed his work at his father's shop, but the economic and social situations had made business difficults, so he decided to find work elsewhere. Using his family connexions and his degree, he found a job as a manager in one of Austremer's many hotels. In 1977 he became owner of a pub, a few months before Kuruch Malnonfi's death. In 1978 he would leave his job as a manager to dedicate himself full time to his new business. He also made his first stock purchase, by purchasing shares in a Karazawi bank. In 1979 he would buy for a symbolic sums his father's shop and turn it into a profitable venture. In 1981, he opened one of the first modern nightclub of Austremer.
Halfway through the eighties, Saintonge had finalized the legal and financial groundwork for Grupu Iauanijapunda. The Consortium then only had a "Construction", "Tourism and restoration", and "Commercial" branches. For the rest of the 21th century, Saintonge would continue to diversify methodically in numerous industry sectors across the Karazawi economy, investing in real estate, then a construction equipment company, and shiping and maritime transports companies. The last acquisitions of Saintonge before the 21th century were a printing, tobacco company, and retail stores.
In 2005, Saintonge's various possessions in maritime transport were consolidated into a single container ship and supply vessel operator, called Claude-Lazare Shiping.Inc. It would become the main source of revenue of the Grupu Iauanijapunda, alongside the hotel brand Horeca.
Personal fortune
Personal life
Saintonge remain extremely secretive. He sued in three different occasions media outlets for publishing or wishing to publish pictures of him and of his mansion taken by paparazzi. The CEO of the gossip magazine Breve notably described him as a "Legal hound, ready to sue anyone that displease him and make their life a tartarus". Some sources describe him as cold, cautious, distant, and ruthless. It's hard to say how true or apt this description is, as no one closely related to him, be it among the Saintonge family or their friends, as they too remain silent to the journalists.
He first married Jovianne Esquie in 1969 with whom he had three children. They divorced in 1981. Saintonge would remain a bachelor up until he met and married his second wife, Uina Nachaqisecha, in 1987. This marriage would give four children, and still hold to this day.
Murder commited by one of his son
On May 1990, Juste Saintonge, his oldest son, fatally shot his sister's boyfriend in the living room of her house. Juste pleaded guilty of manslaughter and was sentenced to five years in jail, of which he served three. No member of the Saintonge family ever agreed to comment on the situation, and even sued journalists and medias because they "violated their privacy". Not even Juste himself ever agreed to justify his actions, but it seems they were motivated by possible physical abuses against his sister during the victim's many drunken fit.