Joseph Oughourlian

Joseph Oughourlian (born 1972), is a French financial businessman. Founder of the activist fund Amber Capital, he invests in football teams.

Early life Oughourlian was born in Paris on February 15, 1972. He is the son of the neuropsychiatrist Jean-Michel Oughourlian and the grandson of Mr. Oughourlian who was, from 1962 to 1983, first vice-governor of the Banque du Liban (Central Bank of Lebanon) and a survivor of the Armenian genocide. His mother, a nurse, is English.

He attended secondary school at Sainte-Croix de Neuilly, where he obtained his baccalaureate in 1989. He graduated from the École des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Paris (HEC Paris) and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po). He obtained a master's degree in economics at the Sorbonne.

Career Oughourlian began his career in cooperation at Société Générale in 1994. This is how he created in October 2001 the first Amber fund, by split, He then headed a fund with more than $6 billion in assets. On April 29, 2019, he was appointed vice-president, being the main shareholder through the company Amber Capital, then appointed chairman of the board of directors in February 2021. Once his actions in the Lagardère group were completed in France, he invested more particularly in its affairs in Madrid; in 2021 it owned almost a third of the Prisa group while Vivendi, which became a partner following the raid on Lagardère, owned almost a tenth of the shares.

As of March 1, 2020 i.e. after the stock market crash of 2020, Amber Capital managed 1.1 billion euros in assets. by demanding the revocation of Lagardère's supervisory board. This battle of shareholders also became a battle between Oughourlian and Lagardère They moved with their three children in 2012 to reside in South Kensington. He speaks fluent English, French, Italian and Spanish.

He has been the Vice President of the Armenian General Benevolent Union in UK since 2010.

He has been one of the main patrons of Sciences Po. Colombia is his grandmother's country of origin.

In May 2016, Oughourlian, who ran an ad hoc fund called Solferino, was preferred to two competing offers to buy the football club Racing Club de Lens, in a very delicate financial situation after five consecutive seasons in Ligue 2. His objective was to bring and stabilize the club in Ligue 1. But after a first season where Lens was very close to the rise, the second saw the team sinking into the bottom of the L2 classification. In December 2017 he became the sole shareholder, after the buyout of the minority stake held by Atlético Madrid, and the June 16, 2018, chairman of the board of directors. In 2019, Oughourlian recovered the club financially, reducing its losses from 17 million euros to 3 million, improving its management, assisted by a general manager, Arnaud Pouille. The recognition of his peers club presidents allows him to be elected to the board of directors of the Professional Football League in November 2022. In May 2023, Mr. Oughourlian's wish came true: after 16 years of absence, Lens qualified for a European Cup, the most prestigious, the Champions League. With this success, he managed to bring with him new shareholders.

In December 2017, he also became a shareholder of Calcio Padua, an Italian football club playing in Serie C, promoted to Serie B in 2018–2019.