Jean-Michel Antoine Aulas (born 22 March 1949)[2] is a French businessman. He is the founder and CEO of Cegid (Compagnie Européenne de Gestion par l'Informatique Décentralisée), and from 1987 to 2023, he served as the president of French football club Lyon, which he had owned from 1987 to 2022 before selling a majority stake to John Textor. [3][4] As part of the OL Groupe, Aulas also previously owned and was the chairman of American club OL Reign from 2020 to 2022.
Aulas was the last president of the prestigious G-14 until it was disbanded in January 2008, and he also served on the board of the European Club Association for Lyon until 2023.[5] In 2018, his net worth was estimated at €600 million.[6]
On 15 June 1987, Aulas took control of Lyon and invested in the club with the objective of turning Lyon into an established Ligue 1 side. His ambitious plan, titled OL – Europe, was designed to develop the club on the European level and back into the first division within a time-frame of no more than four years. After ridding the club of its debt, Aulas restructured the club's management and reorganized the finances and, in a span of two decades, transformed the club from a second division team into one of the richest football clubs in the world. Under Aulas's leadership, Lyon won their first ever Ligue 1 championship in 2002 and promptly started a then national-record streak of seven successive titles. Lyon have also won one Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue title each, as well as a record six Trophée des Champions titles. The club have appeared in the UEFA Champions League eleven times under Aulas, reaching the semi-finals of the competition twice, in the 2009-10 and 2019-20 seasons.
After establishing Lyon as a contender in French football, Aulas adopted a strategy which allowed the club to acquire many of the top players of other clubs in Ligue 1. After excelling at the club, the chairman would then sell the players for exorbitant fees to clubs abroad. His complex style of negotiating has led to the successful transfers of many former Lyon players such as Michael Essien, Mahamadou Diarra, Karim Benzema, Florent Malouda, Eric Abidal, and Tiago Mendes with all the players departing the club for transfer fees as low as €15 million (Tiago) and as high as €38 million (Essien). On the negative side, Aulas has been lambasted for, according to critics, running the club as if it were a business. The club currently operates on the European Stock Exchange under the name OL Groupe, initialed OLG.[7]
In April 2008, business magazine Forbes ranked Lyon as the thirteenth most valuable football team in the world. The magazine valued the club at $408 million (€368 m), excluding debt.[8] On 12 February 2009, accountants Deloitte released their annual Deloitte Football Money League. In the report, Lyon were rated in the twelfth spot, reportedly bringing in an annual revenue of €155.7 million for the 2007–08 season, which ranks among the world's best football clubs in terms of revenue.
^ ab"Décret du 14 novembre 2012 portant promotion et nomination" [Decree of 14 November 2012 on promotion and appointment]. Journal Officiel de la République Française (in French). 2012 (266): 18032. 15 November 2012. PREX1238852D. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
^"Décret du 13 juillet 2006 portant promotion et nomination" [Decree of 13 July 2006 on promotion and appointment]. Journal Officiel de la République Française (in French). 2006 (162): 10578. 14 July 2006. PREX0609423D. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
