Overview

Gender

male

Investor Type

Angel

Fresh out of business school, Yves Guillemot and his brothers embarked on an adventure in the nascent video game industry and founded Ubisoft in 1986. Early on, Yves understood that creating original content in-house and growing proprietary brands would be key to Ubisoft’s success. His vision to use technological breakthroughs as an opportunity to innovate, create brands and win over market share proved hugely successful over the years. With a strong focus on organic growth and efficiency, he has developed an organization recognized for its unrivalled collaborative mindset and for being highly competitive, with over two thirds of production based in cost-competitive countries.

Yves has led Ubisoft’s evolution over the years with player engagement at the core of the company’s development. Ubisoft is one of the pioneers and a leader of the open world genre, which has become one of the industry’s most popular gaming segments. Ubisoft also develops successful multiplayer games and delivers state-of-the-art live operations that engage fans in the long term.

Under Yves’ tenure, Ubisoft launched three of the world’s four best new videogame brands of all time ─ with Tom Clancy’s The Division leading the way ─ a remarkable achievement. The company’s unique capacity as a creator of blockbuster entertainment franchises has created massive value for Ubisoft’s shareholders.

As the owner of its brands, Ubisoft today is in a unique position to broaden its franchises’ reach to a much wider audience through movies, TV shows, theme parks and consumer products. Under Yves’ direction, the company is taking an innovative approach by keeping creative control over its major projects ─ a first in the industry ─ to ensure consistency with the franchises’ DNA.

Over the past 30 years Yves has led Ubisoft in its evolution from a local video game distributor, to a global entertainment leader. Yves has grown alongside the industry and has a deep understanding of what it takes to survive in a fast-moving, high-risk environment, at the crossroads of creation and technological disruption. His strong business acumen is sought out by multinationals such as Lagardère and Rémy Cointreau whose boards he sits on. He was named Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young in 2009, and Glassdoor elected him one of the Top 3 most beloved CEOs in France in 2015.