This article covers the developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will add more information as it becomes available.
On June 19, a plane departing Rennes, France, crashed into a field on approach to La Baule aerodrome, killing two passengers. Claude Guillemot, 69, who founded Ubisoft with his four brothers, is believed to be among the victims, according to the Lower-Atlantic Fire Department.
France Info reported that Guillemot, who owns the plane and is also a member of the La Baule Flying Club, was due to attend a gathering of more than 100 planes in the region this weekend.
While identification is still not possible, Guillemot's family was notified yesterday evening, hours after the plane crashed. Another victim is believed to be a flight instructor from Rennes.
In the early 1980s, the Guillemot family ran a successful agricultural supply business in the Brittany region of France. However, after the five Guillemot brothers – Claude, Christian, Gerard, Michel and Yves – returned home from university with degrees in business and technology, they realized that the family's traditional farming business offered limited growth. Seeking diversification, they looked to the growing electronics market. The cloud was initially used to sell audio CDs, but the brothers soon recognized a more lucrative frontier: the rapidly expanding home computing market.
Realizing that importing hardware and software from Britain and the US was prohibitively expensive for French consumers, they pooled their resources and founded Guillemot Informatique, a mail-order business dedicated to selling affordable computer software and hardware components. Cutting out traditional middlemen, the brothers quickly turned their regional startup into a national success, setting the stage for their eventual leap into video game development and the creation of 'Ubi Soft' — ubiquitous software.
Ubisoft union reps call for CEO Yves Guillemot to resign after company restructuring
Ubisoft's union representatives are calling for Yves Guillemot to step down, as they believe he has lost the trust of his workers.
This article covers the developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will add more information as it becomes available.
