Stéphane Bancel Net Worth

What is Stéphane Bancel's Net Worth and Salary?

Stéphane Bancel, a French billionaire businessman, boasts a remarkable net worth of $6 billion. He is widely recognized as the CEO of Moderna, a biotechnology and pharmaceutical company specializing in mRNA vaccines. In 2020, the company released its first commercial product, the COVID-19 vaccine. Prior to his tenure at Moderna, Bancel served as the CEO of bioMérieux, a multinational biotechnology company.

Stock Holdings

In 2018, Moderna went public with an unprecedented biotech IPO, raising $604 million. Bancel currently owns over 5% of Moderna directly, with the potential to own an additional 5% through performance-based stock options.

Early Life and Education

Born on July 20, 1972, in Marseille, France, Stéphane Bancel was raised by a doctor and an engineer. Excelling in math and science, he pursued higher education at CentraleSupélec, earning a master's degree in engineering. Bancel then obtained another master's in biological engineering from the University of Minnesota before completing an MBA at Harvard Business School.

Career Beginnings

Bancel began his career as a sales director at Eli Lilly and Company, later becoming head of operations in Belgium. His subsequent role as CEO of bioMérieux saw him enhance the company's margins significantly. BioMérieux specializes in diagnostic solutions used for monitoring and cancer screening, diagnosing infectious diseases, and inspecting foods, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals for microorganisms.

Moderna Background

In 2011, Bancel assumed the role of CEO at Moderna, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. By the end of 2012, Moderna had raised $40 million and reached unicorn valuation. In 2013, the company signed a five-year option agreement with AstraZeneca for developing mRNA treatments. Later that year, DARPA provided $25 million for developing mRNA therapeutics. Moderna continued to advance mRNA technology, opening a 200,000-square-foot facility in Norwood, Massachusetts in 2018 for clinical and preclinical work. At the end of 2018, Moderna's IPO raised $621 million, marking the largest biotech IPO in history. Bancel owns approximately 9% stake in the company.

(Photo by BERTRAND GUAY/AFP via Getty Images)

COVID-19 Vaccine

Moderna, along with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, developed a COVID-19 vaccine using mRNA technology. The FDA approved clinical trials in March 2020, confirming in November that the vaccine was 100% effective in preventing severe COVID-19 cases. The vaccine received emergency use authorization in the US, Canada, and the EU. By 2021, Spikevax, the COVID-19 vaccine, was approved in 70 countries. Moderna, with an international team of 3,000 and 21 commercial subsidiaries, began working on a combined influenza and COVID-19 vaccine booster in 2021.

Other Business Endeavors

Besides his role at Moderna, Bancel is a partner at Flagship Pioneering, a life-sciences venture capital firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts that invests in and incubates companies. Among its portfolio companies are Moderna, Novomer, and Indigo Agriculture. Bancel has also served on the boards of Indigo Agriculture, the Museum of Science in Boston, and QIAGEN, a German diagnostics and research company.