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Jean Riboud
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Jean Riboud
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Jean Riboud (15 November 1919 – 20 October 1985) was a French socialist and corporate executive. He was the chairman of Schlumberger,[1] the largest oilfield services company in the world.[2] He was a member of the French Resistance during World War II and suffered incarceration in Buchenwald concentration camp of the Nazis.[3] His contributions were reported in making Schlumberger into the market leader in oilfield services sector. The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1986, for his contributions to society.[4]

Key Information

Biography

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If you want to innovate, to change an enterprise or a society, it takes people willing to do what's not expected

Jean Riboud.[5]

Riboud, born on 15 November 1919 in the French city of Lyon to a banker, graduated from the École des Sciences Politiques, Paris in 1939.[6] He was involved with politics from his student years and was a supporter of the Popular Front coalition government of Leon Blum. Later, he started his career as a lieutenant in the French Army and after serving the army for a while, he joined the French Resistance. It was during this period he was captured by the Nazis and was sent to Buchenwald concentration camp where spent two years, suffering from tuberculosis,[7] before escaping from there with help from the communists.[8] When the war ended, he pursued a career in banking by joining Andre Istel and Company, a private investment banking firm owned by a friend of his father, and this gave him an opportunity to visit United States in 1946 for opening an office of his bank in New York.[6] There, he met Marcel Schlumberger, one of the founders of the Schlumberger group, and on his invitation, Riboud joined Schlumberger as the founder's assistant in 1951.[3] He continued in the company even after the death of Marcel Schlumberger in 1953 and rose in ranks to become the head of Europe operations[9] and later, as the chief executive of the company in 1965.[10] Seven years later, he became the chairman of the group, in 1972.[3]

Under his leadership, Schlumberger grew to become the largest oilfield services company in the world with interests in other sectors such as semiconductors.[1] He expanded the company business by acquisitions, too; the taking over of Fairchild Camera and Instrument was one such acquisition.[11] By the time he relinquished his position to his successor, Michel Vaillaud, in 1985, the company had a net profit of US$I.2 billion on a revenue of US$6.4 billion[12] and had presence in over 100 countries, controlling the operations of 70 percent of the world's oil wells.[13] At that time, the company employed 80,000 people, held US$10.9 billion in assets[10] and was considered by many as the best managed company in the world.[13]

Riboud married Krishna Roy, historian, art collector, the great-grandniece of Rabindranath Tagore, niece of Soumendranath Tagore, and the great-granddaughter of Dwijendranath Tagore, in 1949, and the couple had a son, Christophe.[8] It is reported that the Riboud couple had an extensive friendship circle, which included political figures like François Mitterrand, Indira Gandhi and Ne Win and art personalities such as Yves Tanguy, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Isamu Noguchi, M. F. Hussain, Joan Miró and Max Ernst. They also had an art collection, parts of which were later donated by Krishna Riboud to the Musee Guimet. where a separate gallery of the Jean and Krishna Riboud collection is being maintained.[8] Towards the later days of his life, he was afflicted with cancer and handed over his responsibilities to Vaillaud in September 1985.[10] A month later, on 20 October 1985, he died at his Neuilly-sur-Seine home, survived by his wife, son and three grandchildren.[14] The Government of India honored him with the civilian award of the Padma Bhushan in 1986.[4] The story of his life has been documented in the book The Art of Corporate Success: The Story of Schlumberger, written by Ken Auletta,[15] as well as in his autobiography, Jean Riboud, published in 1989.[16]

See also

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References

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Further reading

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Jean Riboud

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Jean Riboud (15 November 1919 – 20 October 1985) was a French businessman known for his transformative leadership as chairman and chief executive officer of Schlumberger Limited, the international oilfield services giant. Born in Lyon, France, on 15 November 1919 to a prominent banking family, Riboud joined Schlumberger in 1951 after serving in the French Resistance during World War II and working in various business roles. He quickly rose through the executive ranks, becoming president of the Schlumberger companies in North and South America in the 1960s before ascending to chairman and CEO in 1965, a position he held until shortly before his death on 20 October 1985. Under his guidance, Schlumberger grew into one of the world's most technologically advanced and profitable corporations in the energy sector, with a strong emphasis on research, decentralization, and global expansion. Riboud's tenure was marked by strategic acquisitions, heavy investment in innovation, and a distinctive management philosophy that blended American-style efficiency with European intellectualism. Outside of business, he maintained close ties to French political and cultural circles, counting President François Mitterrand among his friends, and supported various artistic and intellectual initiatives throughout his life.

Early Life and Education

Family Background

Jean Riboud was born Jean Léon Marie Jules Riboud on 15 November 1919 in the 2nd arrondissement of Lyon, France. He grew up in a bourgeois family in Lyon, where his father was a prosperous banker. Riboud was one of several siblings in this upper-middle-class Lyonnais household, including an older brother, Antoine Riboud, who later became president of the Groupe BSN (now Danone), and a younger brother, Marc Riboud, who became a renowned photographer. The family maintained a presence in the region, with an estate near Lyon known as La Carelle.

Education and Early Influences

Jean Riboud graduated from the École des Sciences Politiques (Sciences Po) in Paris in 1939, receiving an education that emphasized political science, economics, and public administration. This training shaped his early intellectual formation during a period of intense political ferment in France. As a student, Riboud took a passionate interest in politics and ardently supported Léon Blum's Popular Front coalition government of 1936, which united leftist parties around social reforms, labor rights, and anti-fascist policies. His sympathy for these progressive ideals reflected the leftist leanings common among many young intellectuals of the time at Sciences Po. During World War II, Riboud served in the French Resistance.

World War II and Resistance

Involvement in the French Resistance

Jean Riboud joined the French Army after graduating from the Ecole des Sciences Politiques in Paris in 1939 and served as a lieutenant during the early days of World War II. He later joined the French Resistance following the initial phase of the conflict and the German occupation of France. Riboud was a member of the French Resistance during World War II, contributing to efforts against the Nazi occupiers until his capture by German forces. His involvement in the Resistance ended with his arrest and subsequent deportation.

Imprisonment in Buchenwald

Jean Riboud was captured by the Nazis in August 1943 while attempting to reach the Free French forces in North Africa and was deported to Buchenwald concentration camp in September 1943, where he endured imprisonment for two years. During this period of brutal conditions—including hard labor, inadequate clothing, and exposure to harsh weather—he contracted tuberculosis. Riboud emerged as a leader among the prisoners, quickly becoming the official interpreter for the inmates despite initially not speaking German, reading German newspapers aloud to keep others informed, establishing contacts with the outside world, and using his courage and humor to alleviate suffering for fellow prisoners. Communist prisoners, along with some Christian inmates, acted as forces of order in Buchenwald, helping to maintain discipline, solidarity, and hope among the prisoners. When Riboud was liberated from the camp on April 11, 1945, he weighed only ninety-six pounds due to the effects of starvation and illness. The tuberculosis contracted during his imprisonment affected his health in the immediate post-war period.

Post-War Career Beginnings

Work in Investment Banking

After World War II, Jean Riboud pursued a career in investment banking by joining André Istel & Company, a private French investment banking firm owned by a friend of his father. In 1946, he traveled to New York to open an American office for the bank, which counted Schlumberger among its clients. During his time in the United States, Riboud met Marcel Schlumberger, co-founder of the oilfield services company, and gradually impressed members of the Schlumberger family through his work. This transatlantic experience and early connection to Schlumberger later influenced his decision to join the company.

Entry into Schlumberger

Jean Riboud joined Schlumberger in 1951 as personal assistant to Marcel Schlumberger, one of the company's founders. In this role, he helped reorganize Schlumberger, which had operated as a loose confederation of family-owned companies, into a single entity. After Marcel Schlumberger's death in 1953, Riboud remained with the company. In 1957, he was placed in charge of all the company's operations outside North America. He later rose to president and chief executive in 1965.

Leadership at Schlumberger

Rise to Executive Roles

Jean Riboud was elected president and chief executive officer of Schlumberger Limited in 1965, marking his ascent to the company's top executive position following Pierre Schlumberger's resignation. He held the positions of chairman and chief executive officer simultaneously from that time onward. He continued to serve as chairman and chief executive officer for two decades, guiding Schlumberger through a period of substantial growth. Due to illness, Riboud handed over leadership to Michel Vaillaud on September 11, 1985, ending his tenure in the executive roles.

Expansion and Transformation of the Company

Under Jean Riboud's leadership as chairman and chief executive from 1965 to 1985, Schlumberger transformed from a specialized oilfield logging and testing firm into the world's leading oilfield services company. The company expanded its global presence dramatically, operating in more than 100 countries by the mid-1980s, and established dominant market share in wireline logging and measurement services, handling approximately 70% of the world's oil wells. This growth was supported by heavy investment in research and development, which produced the industry's most advanced logging instruments, as well as a decentralized management structure that emphasized long-term planning and talent development. A major diversification step came with the 1979 acquisition of Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation for approximately $425 million, which brought Schlumberger into the semiconductor and high-technology sector to prepare for microprocessor-driven advancements in measurement and information technologies. This move complemented expansions into related oilfield areas such as drilling (through subsidiaries like Forex Neptune, the world's largest oil-drilling company at the time) and other measurement services, while preserving the core focus on information and technology. These initiatives contributed to exceptional financial performance and a reputation as one of the world's best-managed corporations, with consistent high returns on equity and profit margins far above industry averages during much of Riboud's tenure. When Riboud stepped down as chairman and chief executive in September 1985 due to illness, Schlumberger reported approximately $6.4 billion in revenue and $1.2 billion in net earnings, employing around 80,000 people worldwide.

Personal Life

Marriage and Family

Jean Riboud married Krishna Roy in 1949 in Connecticut. Krishna Roy, an Indian historian and art collector from Calcutta, shared her husband's interest in art. The couple had one son, Christophe Riboud, born in 1950. Christophe graduated from MIT and later taught at the Groupe ESSEC. He was also active in supporting SOS Racisme, contributing to the organization of a major concert at Place de la Bastille in June 1986. Christophe died in a car accident on August 30, 1987, at the age of 37. The family owned Château de La Carelle, a large country estate outside Lyon. At the time of Jean Riboud's death in 1985, he was survived by his wife Krishna, their son Christophe, and three grandchildren.

Residences and Personal Interests

Jean Riboud maintained primary residences in France throughout much of his life, including an apartment in Paris and the Château de La Carelle, a historic family estate in the Beaujolais region. The Paris apartment was an exquisite residence overlooking a private garden in the shadow of Napoleon's tomb. The Château de La Carelle, a 1,300-acre property near the village of Ouroux outside Lyon, had been in the Riboud family since 1850 and included farmland and wooded hills; Riboud spent childhood summers there and continued to use it as a country retreat. He also owned a house in the Arizona desert where he sometimes vacationed. Riboud's health was marked by significant challenges stemming from his wartime experiences and later life. Following his liberation from Buchenwald concentration camp in 1945, he contracted tuberculosis and weighed only ninety-six pounds at the time of his release. In his later years, he was diagnosed with cancer before his death at his home in Paris on October 20, 1985, at the age of 65.

Political Views and Affiliations

Lifelong Socialism

Jean Riboud was a professed socialist throughout his life, maintaining his leftist convictions even as he achieved prominence as the head of Schlumberger, one of the world's largest oilfield services companies. He described himself as a socialist, a stance that stood in contrast to his role as an aggressive capitalist leader, yet one he upheld consistently. His commitment to socialism was evident in profiles that examined his ideological consistency, portraying him as someone who tested the boundaries of how socialist a capitalist could be while fusing leftist ideals with corporate success. This enduring orientation reflected his support for progressive principles across his career. Riboud's socialist views also manifested in his close ties to political figures aligned with the left, including his friendship with François Mitterrand.

Relationship with François Mitterrand

Jean Riboud developed a deep and enduring friendship with François Mitterrand, grounded in shared socialist ideals and a mutual background in the French Resistance. Their relationship began casually in the mid-1950s through gatherings of leftist figures in Paris who opposed colonialism in Algeria and other establishment policies, but it grew into a close personal and advisory bond in August 1971. During that visit to Riboud's home at La Carelle, Mitterrand consulted him on the economic consequences of the Nixon administration's decision to abandon the gold standard, leading to extended discussions that revealed common interests in nature, art, history, and technology, as well as a commitment to socialist principles. From then on, Mitterrand regularly sought Riboud's views on economic issues, often asking his late aide Georges Dayan, "What does Riboud think?" After Dayan's death in 1980, Riboud assumed an even more prominent role as one of Mitterrand's most trusted confidants, valued for his independence, impartiality, and ability to offer frank advice from outside government circles. The two men frequently engaged in long private walks in the woods and shared family dinners, while Riboud provided discreet counsel through written memos on French and international economic matters and attended select meetings with government ministers at the president's request. Riboud supported key early Socialist policies, including the nationalization of enterprises, viewing them as a necessary political compromise to unify the left and marginalize Communist influence, though he expressed reservations about aspects of subsequent austerity measures and advocated alternative strategies blending targeted state intervention with incentives for innovation. He was widely regarded as one of Mitterrand's closest confidants, with some observers speculating he might accept a formal government role, though he remained an informal advisor focused on industrial and economic questions.

Cultural Interests and Art Collection

Friendships with Artists and Cultural Figures

Jean Riboud cultivated enduring friendships with numerous prominent artists and cultural figures, which formed an important part of his personal life alongside his business career. Among his close connections were the surrealist painters Max Ernst, Joan Miró, and Yves Tanguy, the sculptor Isamu Noguchi, the Indian modernist M. F. Husain, and the photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson. He maintained a friendship with Henri Langlois, the founder and longtime director of the Cinémathèque Française, notably involving him in a protest related to cultural institutions. Riboud's brother Marc Riboud, a celebrated photographer and member of Magnum Photos, provided a direct family link to the world of photography and artistic expression. These relationships often overlapped with the art collecting interests he shared with his wife Krishna.

Art and Textile Collection

Jean Riboud and his wife Krishna Riboud assembled a significant collection of Asian art and textiles, focusing particularly on Indian and Chinese pieces. Krishna Riboud, a renowned Franco-Indian researcher and historian, was instrumental in developing the textile portion of the collection, which includes exquisite examples from various historical periods. Their joint efforts resulted in a notable ensemble encompassing Moghul art from the 16th to 19th centuries, alongside other Indian artworks and textiles. Krishna Riboud made substantial donations to the Musée national des arts asiatiques - Guimet in Paris, including an initial donation of 150 textiles in 1990, a significant contribution of Indian art objects and jewelry in 2000 (the year of her death), and a posthumous bequest in 2003 of the remainder of the collection (nearly 3,800 textiles and 150 additional objects), following earlier acts of generosity. This enriched the museum with one of the most beautiful sets of art objects, jewelry, and textiles. The Musée Guimet's textile collection derives essentially from Krishna Riboud's contributions, establishing it as one of the richest textile holdings worldwide. The museum continues to maintain and exhibit the Jean and Krishna Riboud collection, which remains a key resource for Indian art and textiles.

Death and Legacy

Final Years and Death

In his final months, Jean Riboud was afflicted with cancer, which progressively worsened and compelled him to relinquish his leadership role at Schlumberger. He stepped down as chairman of Schlumberger Ltd. on September 11, 1985, after more than two decades as chief executive, as his health deteriorated. Riboud died of cancer on October 20, 1985, at his home in Paris, at the age of 65.

Honors and Recognition

Jean Riboud was posthumously awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian honor, in 1986. His tenure as Schlumberger's chairman and CEO inspired the book The Art of Corporate Success: The Story of Schlumberger by Ken Auletta, published in 1984, which examines the company's culture and management philosophy under his leadership. A tribute publication titled Jean Riboud was published in 1989. Riboud is widely regarded as a transformative leader who positioned Schlumberger as a dominant force in oilfield services during his tenure.

References

  1. https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/22/world/jean-riboud-dies-in-paris-at-65-headed-schlumberger-company.html
  2. https://www.acte-de-naissance.fr/acte-de-naissance-lyon-2e-arrondissement-1919
  3. https://m.acte-deces.fr/acte-de-deces-paris-7e-arrondissement-1985
  4. https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1985/10/22/une-vie-passee-a-se-battre_2737663_1819218.html
  5. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/schlumberger
  6. https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/21/obituaries/jean-riboud-65-dies-headed-schlumberger-ltd.html
  7. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-10-22-me-12354-story.html
  8. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1983/06/06/a-certain-poetry-i
  9. https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/12/business/an-era-ends-at-schlumberger.html
  10. https://www.hbs.edu/leadership/20th-century-leaders/details?profile=jean_riboud
  11. https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/22/business/riboud-s-protege-michel-vaillaud-assuming-the-mantle-at-schlumberger.html
  12. https://www.nytimes.com/1979/05/21/archives/fairchild-cameras-new-suitor-fairchild-cameras-new-suitor.html
  13. https://www.india-seminar.com/2000/492/492%20memoriam.htm
  14. https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/80428/04184192-MIT.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y
  15. https://academic.oup.com/erae/article-abstract/11/3/285/442356
  16. https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1987/09/02/le-deces-de-christophe-riboud-un-pote-heritier_4046347_1819218.html
  17. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/summer-reads/article/2022/07/31/jerome-seydoux-the-film-producer-who-can-t-see-anyone-filling-his-shoes_5992075_183.html
  18. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1983/06/13/a-certain-poetry-ii
  19. https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/Jean-Riboud-Max-Ernst-illstr-Henri/31397570956/bd
  20. http://marcriboud.com/en/chronology/
  21. https://www.guimet.fr/fr/collections/textiles
  22. https://teapot.lib.ocha.ac.jp/record/41011/files/10_65-78.pdf
  23. https://www.abebooks.com/9782711841073/LINDE-PRINCES-DONATION-JEAN-KRISHNA-2711841073/plp
  24. https://www.guimet.fr/fr/krishna-riboud-une-chercheuse-dexception
  25. https://www.luxuo.com/culture/art/the-artistic-asian-wonders-of-the-musee-guimet.html
  26. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1985/10/22/jean-riboud-oil-executive-french-resistance-fighter/
  27. https://dashboard-padmaawards.gov.in/?Year=1986-1986
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