A fashion house bought for a symbolic franc

Benoît Bartherotte becomes in 1977 the owner of half the shares of the Jacques Esterel company for the sum of one symbolic franc. This transfer is granted to him by Jean-Baptiste Doumeng, an entrepreneur close to the Communist Party nicknamed the red billionaire. Armed with this acquisition, he takes the head of the company before making headlines by suing Yves Saint Laurent for counterfeiting in 1980.