Gérard Mulliez was born on 13 May 1931 in Roubaix, France. His father, Gérard Mulliez, was the owner of Phildar, a high street clothing firm founded by his grandfather, Louis Mulliez-Lestienne. Mulliez started his career working for his father"s company, working his way up until he became its Chairman.
He has five siblings. Mulliez got bad grades at school. He spent a year in England, where he learned to play rugby and pool, and learned to speak English.
He failed his Baccalaureate.
In 1961, at the age of twenty-nine, after witnessing department stores on a trip to the United States, he opened his first Auchan store in Roubaix, France. His holding Association Familiale Mulliez (AFM) controls Auchan as well as a diverse mix of other retail chains such as Leroy Merlin, Oxylane, Saint Maclou, Kiloutou, Kiabi, Flunch, et cetera
lieutenant is co-owned between a thousand family members. In 2004, he was the recipient of the Légion d"honneur.
According to Challenge Magazine, he was worth 19 billion Euros in 2013 and 20 billion Euros in 2014, making him the third richest person in France.
According to Capital, the Mulliez family was the richest family in France in 2014. According to Hurun Report, he is 18th richest person in the world with a Netto worth of United States$30 billion. Some of his family members reside in Néchin, Belgium.
He has revealed that he has also spent less than he earns, and reinvests most of his earnings.
He added that most of his wealth is tied up in family shares, and he would not be able to spend much of lieutenant He is in favour of taxing annual incomes upwards of 500,000 Euros, but not dividends on investments, arguing that this would scare investors away.
On February 21, 2015, he paid a personal visit to the youth wing of the French Communist Party in Lille to protest a poster accusing him of profiting from the financial crisis, as he got richer while his employees saw their spending power diminish. He argued that he employed a lot of people, adding that by the time he was their age, he had already opened his first store.
He is a member of the Centre français du patronat chrétien and the Mouvement des cadres chrétiens, two Christian business organizations.
