PARIS (Reuters) - French construction-to-media group Bouygues (PARIS:BOUY) denied reports on Saturday that its CEO, Martin Bouygues, had died.
"The Bouygues Group formally denies the death of its CEO Martin Bouygues and regrets that such a rumor could have spread," a Bouygues spokesman told Reuters by phone.
Agence France-Presse had reported the 62-year-old businessman's death, citing a mayor of the northwestern Orne region, where Bouygues has a home. The news agency later apologized for the mistake.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls reacted to the erroneous news on Twitter: "Glad to have had Martin Bouygues on the phone and to have shared his astonishment".
Bouygues has run the family-controlled group, which also builds roads and owns TF1, the country's biggest private broadcaster, for more than 20 years.