Bruno Bonnell is one of the few people to have stood up Brazilian soccer maestro Ronaldo for dinner. Arrogance? Well, the Frenchman commands the $1.1bn computer games empire Infogrames and he is a very busy man.
Caught out at a question about the skipped dinner, the chairman and chief executive mumbles an excuse about keeping another engagement at the Majestic Hotel in Cannes, rather than any power play on his part.
Infogrames designed and is selling Ronaldo v Football, one of the hottest soccer games on the market. Though ineffective when France beat Brazil in 1998 to become world champions, the Brazilian is the big draw in Cannes where Bonnell is overseeing his company's part in one of the largest computer game and software exhibitions in Europe.
Bonnell, sometimes described as France's answer to Richard Branson, is giving back-to-back interviews to sell the Infogrames story.
"We will take the necessary steps to become one of the big players in the industry," he says. "We will charm the US market. We will show them a company with a great product and commitment rather than just being another European export."
The company was born in 1983 when Bonnell and schoolfriend Christophe Sapet had a product that taught people about basic computer programming.
It has since swollen through acquisition, organic growth and a listing on the French bourse, to rank among the world's five biggest independent computer games publishers and distributors.
It boasts more than 1,000 game titles, 100m users, and sales this year expected to hit $400m. Games include Alone in the Dark, V-Rally and Mission Impossible, as well as the hot item featuring Ronaldo and the Brazilian soccer team; it also has the licence to produce titles with Looney Tunes characters.
Even with such an impressive stock market value, Infogrames is battling with other independent games distributors, including Eidos and America's Electronic Arts, to grow even bigger. There has been perennial speculation of consolidation in the industry and Bonnell has previously hinted at a merger with Eidos, his UK-based closest rival which has the well-built Lara Croft as its best selling game.
Only last year Britain boasted the largest interactive entertainment market in Europe, worth £1.4bn, beating both Germany and France.
Asked about consolidation, Bonnell says: "I'm not a prey. We have to look to take the lead on our competitors."
Infogrames has access to more than $500m for further acquisitions but he is coy about future deals. "Eidos is a very respectable company but our development lies towards the US and Japan."
The UK he describes as a "very interesting and erratic market" where games not accepted by players are scrapped.
To achieve critical mass, Infogrames last year snapped up a majority stake in American publisher and distributor GT Interactive Software for $135m and in the process gained an important Nasdaq listing. The company also bumped up its sales target after the acquisition to $1bn by 2001. A healthy target but one that suggests growth by consolidation, say analysts.
Bonnell wants Infogrames to be on every platform and already its games are on Sega, Sony and Nintendo, as well as mobile phones, personal computers, the internet, interactive television, handheld games and palmtops. It also has a games channel with Canal Plus.
Last week, a deal with BSkyB's interactive television service Open was announced to provide games sites for subscribers surfing the internet through their TVs.
The French group has also invested $200m to establish a subsidiary, Infogrames.com, that will hold all its online assets. Bonnell estimates 20% of the company's sales will come from online users by 2002.
Investors have not always wanted to chase technology stocks nor to join the boards of computer game companies. So Bonnell and Sapet still own a third of Infogrames.
"It wasn't seen as a serious business," says Bonnell. "Being a board member then of a games company was not something honourable. Now they all want to tell their kids about it."
