Téthys

Jean-Pierre Meyers, as CEO, oversees day-to-day operations and investment execution. Alexandre Benais leads Téthys Invest, the direct private-equity arm, and holds board observer rights at portfolio companies. Both report to Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, who chairs the overall structure and shapes the family's long-term capital-allocation priorities.

Téthys Invest is the dedicated direct-investment vehicle, focusing on private companies with long-term growth potential in sectors like legaltech, edtech, and digital health. The broader Téthys holding company stewards the family's massive, publicly traded L'Oréal stake and other assets. This two-tier structure allows the family to keep the liquid, dividend-generating core separate from opportunistic private deals — both governed by the same principals.

Yes, and selectively. Téthys co-invested in software group Septeo alongside GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund. It also partnered with Mousse Investments, the Wertheimer family office (behind Chanel), to back luxury brand The Row. These deals suggest the firm prefers deep, relationship-driven club-style arrangements with partners who share its multi-generational time horizon.

Philanthropic giving flows through the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller, a separate legal entity created decades before Téthys. The foundation funds scientific research, arts, and cultural heritage projects — most visibly the Notre-Dame de Paris restoration. Téthys, by contrast, handles for-profit investments and asset management, avoiding any mandate crossover.

Téthys is the holding company through which the Bettencourt-Meyers family owns its stake of more than 33% in L'Oréal, making the family the cosmetics giant's controlling shareholder by a wide margin. Françoise Bettencourt Meyers serves on the L'Oréal board, and Alexandre Benais represents the family's interests there as well. The L'Oréal dividend and share appreciation form the foundation of Téthys's permanent capital base.

The office pursues both paths. The $70B balance sheet is anchored by the publicly traded L'Oréal stake — a de facto mega-cap equity position. On the private side, Téthys Invest emphasizes direct deals and co-investments rather than blind-pool fund commitments, consistent with the family's preference for control, concentrated bets, and low fee leakage.

Confirmed focuses include legaltech, edtech, digital health, HRtech, proptech, agritech, climate tech, luxury, and healthcare services. The firm leans toward sectors where a patient, multi-generational ownership horizon gives it an edge over traditional PE funds — software and services businesses that benefit from long compounding and limited exit pressure.