The Desmarais family ranks seventh on the Canadian family rich-list, with an estimated net worth according to canadianbusiness.com of $8.38 billion as of November 2017. Their wealth is largely due to the legacy of the late Paul Desmarais, considered one of the great empire builders in Canadian business history. He began with a bankrupt bus company which he transformed and then expanded into a portfolio of successful investments in the United States, Europe and Asia. Consolidating them under the publicly listed holding company Power Corporation, which he bought in 1968, it’s now run by his two sons Paul Jr. and Andre since his death in 2013. Its revenue in 2017 was estimated at C$51.36 billion ($38.57 billion USD).
Based in Montreal, it has substantial interests in the electrical power industry, paper mills, renewables and, since the 1980s, financial services, which it has continually expanded on. In partnership with Belgian billionaire investor Albert Frere, Power Corp also has interests in some of Europe’s biggest companies, including cement giant Lafarge, oil company Total and drinks maker Pernod Ricard.
At the time of his death, Paul Desmarais’s personal worth was $4.5 billion. The family has also created a significant legacy through philanthropy in the arts, education, health and to the homeless.
