Claude Dauphin Net Worth, Relationships, Age/Birthdate & Birthday Facts

Claude Dauphin Net Worth, Relationships, Age/Birthdate & Birthday

Claude Dauphin is a French commodities-trading entrepreneur best known for founding and building the global firm Trafigura into a multibillion-dollar powerhouse.

Introduction

Claude Dauphin was born June 10, 1951, and became one of France’s most prominent commodities traders and business figures. By the time of his passing he had built one of the world’s largest privately-held commodity-trading houses, and his net worth was estimated at approximately US $1.4 billion. In July 1976 he married Catherine in Caen, France, and they had three children together.  His business acumen, global reach, and behind-the-scenes leadership made him a figure of significant influence in his industry.

Quick Facts

From Scrap-Metal Roots to Global Commodities Leader

Claude Dauphin’s journey began in Houlgate, Normandy, France, where he was born into a family business in scrap-metal recycling.  As a young man he left formal schooling early and joined his father’s business, gaining firsthand experience in the commodity side of metals and waste. 

He soon moved into trading roles, joining London Metal Exchange brokerages in ferro-alloys and later becoming part of Marc Rich + Co. — an institution that had a reputation for high-risk, high-reward commodity deals.  In 1993 he co-founded Trafigura Beheer B.V., basing the business in the Netherlands and building it into one of the world’s major independent commodity-trading firms.

Defining moments in Claude Dauphin’s journey include:

• Leaving his father’s scrap-metal business and entering international trading.

• Joining Marc Rich and moving into petroleum trading leadership.

• Co-founding Trafigura and expanding into oil, metals, ore-trading on a global scale.

• Successfully steering the firm through corporate, legal and environmental challenges, while maintaining private ownership and aggressive growth.

The Core Pillars of Claude Dauphin’s Wealth

At the heart of Claude Dauphin’s net worth lay several interlocking business vehicles and investment strategies:

• Trafigura ownership and trading profits: As a senior figure and significant shareholder of Trafigura, Dauphin benefited directly from its growth and profitability.

• Commodities strategy: Oil, metals and raw-materials trading formed the backbone of his business model—buying, shipping, trading, and supplying globally. 

• Private-company structure: By keeping the firm privately held rather than publicly listed, Dauphin maintained operational flexibility and retained value in his ownership stake. 

Relationships & Family Life

Claude Dauphin kept his personal life notably private, but several facts are in the public record. He married Catherine in July 1976 in Caen, France, and together they had three children: Aurélie, Guillaume and Charlotte.  He lived largely out of the global limelight, focusing on his business and maintaining a reserved profile.

Key insights into Claude Dauphin’s relationships and personal life:

• Married to Catherine since 1976, indicating a long-term partnership.

• Three children (Aurélie, Guillaume, Charlotte) were born of the marriage.

• He maintained a lifestyle centered on business travel, global trading operations and limited public personal exposure.

• While rare publicly, his family retained ownership stakes in Trafigura, and his legacy has passed into a family office structure posthumously. 

Lifestyle, Assets & Interests

Beyond the core business success, Claude Dauphin’s lifestyle reflected a blend of ambition, global mobility and discrete influence.

• He maintained international residences aligned with Trafigura’s global operations (Europe, Latin America, Africa).

• Ownership of significant business-class assets (trading fleets, supply chains, infrastructure) underpinned his worldview.

• He engaged in philanthropic efforts via the Trafigura Foundation, supporting educational and social initiatives in developing markets. 

• Dauphin was known for a rigorous working ethic and relentless travel schedule—remarkable even as he battled illness. 

Net Worth Breakdown & Analysis

Assessing Claude Dauphin’s net worth involves looking at the wealth tied to business ownership, asset holdings and trading operations. According to public estimations:

Note: Because Trafigura is privately held, exact valuations are subject to estimation and may fluctuate significantly.

Over time, Dauphin’s core drivers of growth included:

• Expansion into high-volume oil and metal trading.

• Geographic diversification into Latin America, Africa, Asia.

• Maintaining a privately owned structure which enabled retention of outsized value for the founder.

Public Image, Legacy & Influence

Claude Dauphin’s public profile was not built on flashy media appearances but on influence within commodity markets and corporate leadership. Industry insiders described him as intensely focused, disciplined and understated. 

His legacy includes:

• Establishing Trafigura as a major independent player in oil and metals trading, challenging incumbents.

• Demonstrating how entrepreneurial leadership in commodities, combined with structural control (private ownership), can generate significant wealth and global impact.

• A record that includes both formidable business achievements and controversies—the firm navigated environmental, legal and regulatory challenges, including the Ivory Coast toxic-waste incident. 

• Through the Trafigura Foundation and other efforts, investing in social development and philanthropic initiatives, thus amplifying his influence beyond pure business.

Conclusion

With a birthdate of June 10, 1951, and recognition for building a global commodities empire culminating in an estimated net worth of around US $1.4 billion, Claude Dauphin’s story is one of ambition, discipline and global reach. His marriage to Catherine and three children ground a private life behind the scenes of corporate power. His legacy endures in the firm he shaped, the markets he influenced and the philanthropic footprint he left behind. For those exploring Claude Dauphin’s net worth, relationships, age/birthdate and birthday, his journey offers a compelling blueprint of how a modest beginning can evolve into global significance.