00:00Well, to understand how Pierre Samuel saved Michelin, we need to go back to the beginning
00:04of his career. Before he went into finance, Pierre was a journalist, and during this time
00:10he developed a friendship with a man named Gaston Guibou. Gaston worked at a large French
00:15bank called Credit Lyonnais, where he helped manage the bank's investments. But after
00:20spending several years climbing the corporate ladder, Gaston was promoted to run a subsidiary
00:25in Tunisia. And just as he was settling into his new position, disaster struck. A series
00:34of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions devastated the area, and nearly overnight Gaston found
00:39himself in charge of cleaning up the mess. But while most people would have been completely
00:44overwhelmed by this responsibility, Gaston actually thrived in the chaos. He spent every
00:50waking hour working on finding solutions to the crisis, and eventually became a local
00:54hero. And this experience inspired him to start his own investment firm. But unfortunately,
01:00just as he was getting his new company off the ground, he was diagnosed with a rare blood
01:04disease that required him to stay in bed for the next six months. But even though he was
01:09bedridden, Gaston didn't spend his time moping or watching TV. Instead, he wrote a book about
01:15his experience starting an investment firm, and when he recovered from his illness, he sent
01:19copies of the book to some of the top bankers in France. To his surprise, many of these banks
01:24reached out to him and offered to fund his new company. In total, they invested three
01:29million francs, which was enough to kick-start the company. And after seeing how successful
01:34Gaston was in Tunisia, they trusted him to invest their money however he saw fit. And
01:40so, over the next few decades, Gaston built up a massive fortune, investing in businesses across
01:45the world.
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