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Guy Laliberté

Guy Laliberté
Guy Laliberte WPT.jpg
Laliberté at the $25,000 World Poker Tour No Limit Hold'em Championship
Born (1959-09-02) September 2, 1959 (age 57)
Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Nationality Canadian
Occupation Founder of Cirque du Soleil
Net worth Decrease$1.3 billion (June 2016)
Spouse(s) Rizia Moreira (ex de facto spouse)
Partner(s) Claudia Barilla (girlfriend)
Children 5
Guy Laliberté
Nickname(s) Ahtata (Full Tilt Poker)
World Poker Tour
Title(s) None
Final table(s) 1
Money finish(es) 2
Space Adventures Tourist
Other occupation
CEO of Cirque du Soleil
Time in space
10d 21h 17m
Missions Soyuz TMA-16 / TMA-14
Mission insignia
Soyuz-TMA-16-Mission-Patch.png

Guy Laliberté, OC CQ (born September 2, 1959) is a Canadian businessman, investor, poker player, and musician. With an estimated net worth of US$2.6 billion (as of March 2012), Laliberté was ranked by Forbes as the 11th wealthiest Canadian and 459th in the world.

Following an announcement from the Cirque du Soleil on April 20, 2015 concerning a change in ownership, Laliberté will maintain a stake in the business and will continue to provide strategic and creative input to the company.

Starting out busking as an accordion player, stiltwalker and fire-eater, in 1984 Laliberté founded Cirque du Soleil, a Canadian circus company whose shows have since been seen by more than 90 million people worldwide. In 2006, Laliberté was named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

Laliberté was born in 1959 in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. His interest in show business began at a relatively young age. His parents took him to watch the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, an experience which led Laliberté to read the biography of P. T. Barnum. While he was still in school, Guy produced several performing arts events. After school, he entered the world of street performance, playing the harmonica and accordion on the streets of Quebec. Laliberté joined a performing troupe called Les Échassiers, which included fire-breathers, jugglers, and acrobats who hitched around the country from show to show. He later returned to Quebec, where he attempted to keep a steady full-time job at a hydroelectric dam. However, soon after his employment began, the company’s employees went on strike. Laliberté took the opportunity to return to his life as a street performer.


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