Little-Known French Billionaire Circles US Cable Market

Patrick Drahi, the third-richest man in France, says he is interested in pursuing firms like Cox Communications and Cablevision Systems.

The entrepreneur, 51, has made a career of devouring assets that once seemed unattainable. Over the past 18 months alone, Drahi has stitched together $40 billion in deals, including his $23 billion takeover of SFR, France’s second-largest mobile company—a behemoth that once refused his advances. Drahi laid out plans to deepen his foray into the US market. The Frenchman is positioning himself to disrupt America’s communications landscape by importing a European business model. By amassing cable companies and eventually combining them with mobile operators, Drahi aims to one day offer consumers a one-stop-shop that bundles cable TV, high-speed Internet and fixed and mobile phone services, undercutting rivals that sell them separately. In Europe, bundling the four products is becoming commonplace, but the so-called quadruple-play model doesn’t yet exist on a large scale in the US.