French multinational retail and wholesaler.
Headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt, the Carrefour supermarket company was established by the Fournier, Badin and Defforey families in 1959. Carrefour (crossroads) became the largest retailer in Europe after a merger with the Promodès retail group in 1999. Paul-Louis Halley had founded and run Promodès until his death in 2003. The Halley family later divested their controlling share of the business in 2008.
Today, Carrefour operates stores in 30 countries and is largely credited with innovating the concept of the “hypermarket” (known as a Superstore in North America) in 1969. The company ranks 68 on the Fortune Global 500 list, with 2017 revenue of $91.2 billion.
