Pierre Péladeau

Pierre Péladeau (12 April 1925 – 24 December 1997) was a Canadian businessman. He was the founder of Quebecor Inc., a Canadian media and telecommunications conglomerate in Quebec, Canada.

He was the father of billionaire Pierre Karl Péladeau, former Parti Québécois leader.

Early life Pierre Péladeau was born in Montreal, Canada, on 12 April 1925, as the youngest of seven children of Henri Péladeau, who had a successful timber business. While Henri Péladeau was on a sales trip to Europe in 1929, the stock market crashed and on his return to Montreal he found that his two partners had taken control of the business. This event undoubtedly affected Pierre Peladeau's attitude to business and his business partners.

Péladeau had four children – Erik, Isabelle, Pierre Karl, and Anne-Marie – with his first wife, Raymonde Chopin, who died in 1976. Pierre Karl Péladeau would serve as CEO of Quebecor before serving one year as leader of the Parti Québécois from May 2015 to May 2016. Érik Péladeau served as a former Vice-Chairman of Quebecor Inc. Péladeau had two children – Simon-Pierre and Esther – with his second wife, Line Parisien, whom he divorced and regretted it.

In 1987, Péladeau told The Globe and Mail: "I've had all the women I wanted, when I wanted them." Midnight, founded in Montreal in 1954, later developed into a major North American supermarket tabloid. Péladeau did not acquire Midnight; Azaria later sold it separately, while Quebecor acquired another Azaria publication, the Sunday Express.

Quebecor Inc. Péladeau created Quebecor Inc. in 1965, with Le Journal de Montréal as its flagship publication.

In 1977, Péladeau expanded Quebecor into the United States by starting a daily sports-heavy tabloid called The Philadelphia Journal, which was unsuccessful and ended its publication run in 1981.