Stéphane Richard (born 24 August 1961) is a French businessman who has been serving as chief executive officer and chairman of the worldwide mobile phone network Orange since 2011.

The son of a mining engineer and grandson of a shepherd,[1] Richard was born in Caudéran in the Gironde department in Aquitaine (South-West France), on 24 August 1961.

[2][3] Richard made his fortune from his involvement in the leveraged buyout of Nexity, a property development subsidiary of Compagnie Générale des Eaux, the group he joined in 1992.

“I am ready to do this tomorrow morning… but without exposing Orange to huge risks.”[16] In response, a wide range of Israeli politicians condemned his statements and called on the French government to oppose antisemitism.

Miri Regev said: "On the backdrop of the recent serious events in France, the French government must show zero tolerance for anti-Semitism," said Regev, in reference to the growing wave of anti-Semitic violence in the France that was highlighted in January by a Muslim holding a kosher supermarket hostage in Paris and murdering four Jews.

"I call on Jews of France and the world to disconnect from Orange unless Stephane Richard takes back his words.

[22] In June 2021, amid the COVID-19 pandemic in France, Richard came under political pressure after a network outage at Orange prevented emergency calls for several hours.