Ubisoft Co-Founder Claude Guillemot Dies in France Crash

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- Claude Guillemot, co-founder and Executive Vice-President of Operations at Ubisoft, died at age 69 in a plane crash in France.
- Guillemot was piloting a Cessna 421B Golden Eagle with one other passenger onboard when the aircraft crashed on approach to La Baule-Escoublac Airfield on Friday, killing two people total.
- Ubisoft was co-founded in 1986 by Guillemot and his brothers — he was one of five co-founding brothers, per Dexerto on X.
- Guillemot also served as chairman of Guillemot Corporation, a gaming hardware company, giving him a senior role at both the publisher and its hardware partner.
- The aircraft crashed "just short of the runway" at La Baule-Escoublac Airfield in western France, and investigators are now reconstructing the scene.
Why it matters: Guillemot was one of five brothers who co-founded Ubisoft in 1986, making him a core architect of one of France's largest game publishers. His dual role as Ubisoft's Executive Vice-President of Operations and chairman of Guillemot Corporation placed the Guillemot family at the center of both the publisher and its hardware partner.

