- one of the biggest and earliest support of Emmanuel Macron, helped him become president (offering to do his PR, made him met the right persons -- especially Mimi Marchand, who can make and break celebrities, lawfully or not, helped set up Macron's political party with other billionaires, etc)

- control the #1 French newspaper, "Le Monde" (extremely poplar on the Web, too), is buying up other media (Nice-Matin, most recently), is/was also influential in opposition media (e.g Mediapart)

- his spouse is the first daughter of Bernard Arnault, the 3rd richest man in the world, and together they form the most powerful couple in the country