Club Med changes boss following tensions with shareholders

After several months of tensions with the main shareholder, the Chinese group Fosun, the CEO of Club Med, Henri Giscard d'Estaing, is leaving the ship.

It's the end of a 23-year adventure. The son of former President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing had been running the famous holiday and leisure club since 2002. Today, aged 68, "Henri" , as the GOs, the "kind organizers" of the Club , call him, has been effectively dismissed. He announced this on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, after Fosun appointed, without his consent, a new CEO, whose identity is unknown. We only know that he would be French.

Relations have been strained since at least 2024 between President Henri Giscard d'Estaing and Fosun. The disagreements are strategic, particularly over the evolution of the group's capital structure, acquired by the Chinese company in 2015 following a long-running takeover bid. The final straw came in early June 2025 when HGE advocated for Club Med's return to the Paris Stock Exchange, which it had left in 2015. A return to the Paris market was opposed by the Chinese shareholder.

Fosun opposes Henri Giscard d'Estaing's plan to diversify the group's management by welcoming minority shareholders and creating an international governance structure that respects the company's historical French roots by being listed in Paris. This is out of the question in the eyes of Chinese shareholders, the majority of whom are currently based in Shanghai.

However, can we speak of the end of the "Club Med adventure" , whose image remains firmly anchored in the minds of many generations? A page is turning. What are the ambitions of the future new boss? What will remain of the spirit of Club Med invented in 1950 by the Belgian sports champion Gérard Blitz and developed by Gérard Trigano and his family? An entrepreneurial adventure that Henri Giscard d'Estaing saved from financial collapse and bequeathed to his successor. The company will have, in 2025, 1.5 million customers, 70 sites worldwide and a five-masted yacht for cruises.