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CEO of top French company Bouygues wrongly reported as dead

French news agency AFP wrongly reported that Martin Bouygues had died, prompting much of France's media to follow suit on their websites.

La rédaction de Mediapart

28 February 2015 à 20h21

This article is freely available.

French construction-to-media group Bouygues denied reports on Saturday that its CEO, Martin Bouygues, had died, reports Reuters.

"The Bouygues Group formally denies the death of its CEO Martin Bouygues and regrets that such a rumor could have spread," a Bouygues spokesman told Reuters by phone.

Agence France-Presse had reported the 62-year-old businessman's death, citing a mayor of the northwestern Orne region, where Bouygues has a home. The news agency later apologised for the mistake.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls reacted to the erroneous news on Twitter: "Glad to have had Martin Bouygues on the phone and to have shared his astonishment".

Read more of this report from Reuters.

La rédaction de Mediapart

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