The Desmarais Legacy
AppDirect chairman and CEO Nicolas Desmarais (pictured), who co-founded the company with Daniel Saks in 2009, comes from a long line of Canadian/Quebec business leaders. A London Telegraph journalist compared the Desmarais family the Canadian Rockefellers or Vanderbilts.
Their business empire takes center stage at Montreal-based investment company Power Corporation of Canada. Paul Desmarais Sr. began leading the company in 1968. He amassed fortune and influence, serving as an advisor to one Canadian prime minister and holding close relationships with several others. Forbes listed his net worth at $4.5 billion at the time of his death in 2013.
He handed the company off to his sons, Paul Jr. and Andre, in the 1990s.
The Financial Post in 2017 quoted Nicolas Desmarais’ brother as saying that their father and uncle – Power Corporation’s co-CEOs – were some of AppDirect’s “greatest champions.” Paul Jr.’s equity stake in AppDirect shown in the 2021 FCC notice is evidence of that.
For an interesting read about the Power Corporation and the business legacy of the Desmarais family, check out the article on the Power Corporation’s website.
