Emmanuel Besnier, chief executive and controlling shareholder of the French dairy group Lactalis, is ranked No. 88 on the Forbes 2026 World’s Billionaires list, tied with Leonid Mikhelson, with a net worth of $28.3 billion. He has been nicknamed “the invisible billionaire”.
Emmanuel Georges Philippe Besnier was born on September 18, 1970, in Laval, Mayenne, France. His father was Michel Besnier and his mother Christiane, and his paternal grandfather, André Besnier, founded Lactalis in 1933. He has a brother, Jean-Michel, and a sister, Marie.
Net Worth and Rank
- Forbes 2026 list: No. 88 (tied with Leonid Mikhelson), with $28.3 billion
- Earlier estimate: Forbes put his wealth at $24.2 billion in February 2025, according to Wikipedia
Education and Career
He was educated at the Catholic private lycée L’Immaculée-Conception in Laval and graduated from the ISG Business School in Paris. He joined Lactalis in 1995 as director of development and took over as CEO in 2000, when his father died. With his brother and sister he owned 83% of the company.
Low Profile
Besnier shuns publicity and has been nicknamed “the invisible billionaire”. In 2006 he was named “Mayennais of the Year” by the local Rotary Club. He gives €200,000 a year to the Francis-Le-Basser football stadium in Laval, attends its board meetings and built a private box with tinted glass from which he watches matches.
The 2017 Recall
At the end of 2017 Lactalis had to recall 12 million boxes of salmonella-contaminated baby milk from 83 countries. Besnier was summoned to the French finance ministry by the minister, Bruno Le Maire.
Personal Life
He married Sandrine, whom he met in high school, at the Basilica of Notre-Dame in Laval. They have three children, and live in Paris’s 7th arrondissement and in a château at Entrammes near Laval, which he inherited from his father.
Why It Matters
Lactalis is one of the world’s largest dairy groups and is privately held, so the Besnier family’s wealth is an estimate.
Net worth figures change daily with share prices. Rankings here follow the Forbes 2026 World’s Billionaires list, with wealth measured on March 1, 2026.
Image: A Lactalis dairy plant in Victoriaville, Quebec (file photo, 2026; Emmanuel Besnier is not pictured). Photo: Gabriel Picard / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
