Ubisoft Co-Founder Claude Guillemot Dies in Plane Crash

Claude Guillemot, one of the five brothers who co-founded the gaming giant Ubisoft, has died following a plane crash in France. He was 69 years old.

On June 19, 2026, a twin-engine Cessna 421 propeller aircraft departed from Rennes, France, before crashing into a field during its approach to the La Baule aerodrome. According to the Loire-Atlantique fire department, two people were killed in the accident. Local reports indicate that the second victim was a flight instructor from Rennes.

Guillemot, who owned the aircraft and was a member of the La Baule flying club, was reportedly traveling to the region to attend a gathering of more than 100 aircraft scheduled for the weekend. While official identification is pending, the family was notified of the incident shortly after the crash occurred.

From Agricultural Roots to Tech Empire

The story of the Guillemot brothers—Claude, Christian, Gérard, Michel, and Yves—began in the early 1980s within their family’s agricultural supply business in the Brittany region. Upon returning from university with degrees in business and technology, the brothers sought to move beyond traditional farming, pivoting instead toward the emerging electronics market.

Claude initially explored the audio CD market, but the brothers soon shifted their focus to home computing. Recognizing that importing software and hardware from the US and UK was prohibitively expensive for French consumers, they established Guillemot Informatique. By bypassing traditional middlemen, they built a successful mail-order business that paved the way for the creation of Ubi Soft—a name derived from "ubiquitous software."

A Behind-the-Scenes Pillar

While his brother Yves became the public face of Ubisoft as CEO, Claude was instrumental in managing the company's technical and operational infrastructure. Holding a master’s in economic science and a certificate in industrial computing, he bridged the gap between the business and development sides of the organization.

Beyond his work at Ubisoft, where he served as a board member and executive vice president of operations, Claude was the CEO of Guillemot Corporation. Under his leadership, the firm became a global hardware distributor, achieving significant recognition for its Thrustmaster and Hercules accessory lines.

In a 1999 interview, Claude shared his perspective on the digital age: "I also like on the net the very simple personal site where the author presents himself, with his passions, his taste, himself, his family and his dog... It is a genuine new form of expression, free and independent."