Sodexho

Sodexo S.A.

Type	Société Anonyme
Traded as	Euronext: SW
Industry	Conglomerate
Founded	1966 (51 years ago) (1966) as Société d'Exploitation Hotelière in Marseilles, France
Founder	Pierre Bellon
Headquarters	Issy-les-Moulineaux, France
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Pierre Bellon (Chairman), Michel Landel (CEO)
Services	Foodservice, facility management, service vouchers
Revenue	€16.04 billion (2011)
Operating income	€853 million (2011)
Profit	€945 million (2011)
Total assets	€111.40 billion (2011)
Total equity	€2.535 billion (2011)
Number of employees	413,000 (2011)
Subsidiaries	Sodexo Justice Services
Website	sodexo.com

Sodexo (formerly Sodexho Alliance) is a French food services and facilities management company headquartered in the Paris suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux. Sodexo is one of the world's largest multinational corporations, with 420,000 employees that represent 130 nationalities and are present on 34,000 sites in 80 countries.

For fiscal year 2010 (ending August 2009) revenues reached 15.3 billion euros, with a market capitalization of 6.5 billion euros. Revenues by region represent 38% in North America, 37% in Continental Europe, 8% in the UK and Ireland, and 17% elsewhere.

Sodexo serves many sectors, including private corporations, government agencies, schools from preschool through university (including seminaries and trade schools), hospitals and clinics, assisted-living facilities, military bases, and correctional facilities. As of 2016 subsidiary Sodexo Justice Services operated support services in 122 prisons in eight countries, including 42 in the Netherlands, 34 in France, and others in Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Chile, as well as running 4 prisons directly in the UK.

The company was launched in 1966 by Pierre Bellon (Chairman) in Marseille, France, initially serving company restaurants, schools and hospitals under the name Société d'Exploitation Hotelière (English: Hotel Services Corporation). Today Sodexo is on the Fortune Global 500 list and the second largest employer among all French multi-national corporations.

Throughout the 1970s, the company expanded in France and internationally; first in Belgium, then Africa, and finally the Middle East. After an initial public offering on the Paris Bourse in 1983, the firm continued its expansion into North America, South America, Japan, South Africa and Russia.