123,000 corporate groups established in France in 2015, only 220 of which have 5,000 employees or more

As at end-2015, 442,000 companies operating on French soil were organised as corporate groups or were under the control of public authorities. Those 123,000 groups employ 10.5 million full-time workers across the nation, or half of all employees in the public and private sectors.

Out of these groups, half of them, on French soil, consist of small companies with fewer than ten employees. The vast majority of these corporate groups (eight out of ten) are solely French, with multinational groups larger on average: over 60% of employees of these groups were employed by French (47%) or foreign (16%) multinational firms.

In France, these groups include companies dedicated primarily to industry and trade. They often include companies operating in activities of different nature. The French groups stand out for the presence on French soil of companies managing the Group's auxiliary activities. This applies only to less than one-fourth of multinational companies under foreign ownership.