Fabrice Fries

In 2006, he was appointed General Secretary and member of the executive committee of Publicis Groupe, the third biggest communications group worldwide. In June 2009, he became head of Publicis Consultants, a Publicis Group agency specialising in corporate and crisis communications. On April 12th 2018, he became the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Agence France-Presse (AFP), one of the world's leading press agencies.

Since taking the helm in 2018, Fries has contributed to AFP’s financial growth with a transformation plan that places a particular emphasis on the Agency’s video and photo services. Furthermore, AFP has continued to diversify its revenues under Fries’ leadership with its world-leading fact-checking service, which saw a dramatic increase in demand during the COVID-19  pandemic with the surge of disinformation surrounding the disease. He is a staunch advocate of neighbouring rights for the press in the face of Google, which he deems a “just fight”, and even "a personal mission, because it is not normal that those that simply relay news profit from it."

In 2004, he joined Atos, an IT services company, as Group Senior Vice-President, in charge of key accounts and market strategy.

In 2002, Fries was in charge of the sale of those assets by Vivendi to investment funds Cinven, Carlyle and Apax.

In 1997, he was appointed Head of Strategy & Development of Havas, where he refocused of the group's activities on publishing and press. After Havas' take-over by Vivendi in 1998, it was renamed Vivendi Universial Publishing and Fabrice Fries became its Deputy General Director, in charge of the press and professional information divisions, working with brands such as L'Express, L'Expansion, Courrier international, Dalloz, Masson, Vidal, Le Moniteur, L'Usine nouvelle, L'Etudiant, Exposium, 01 Informatique, le Quotidien du Médecin, as well as several health information brands worldwide.

In 1995, he became the special advisor to the Compagnie Générale des Eaux (now Vivendi) Chairman and CEO, Jean-Marie Messier.

Fries studied at the [[Éco] ( in humanities), Institut d'études politiques de Paris and École nationale d'administration (class "Denis-Diderot" of 1985). He also holds a masters degree in history from Sorbonne University.

Fabrice Fries (born March 11, 1960) is a French business executive, currently Chairman and Chief executive officer of Agence France-Presse.