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François Coty (May 3, 1874 – July 25, 1934) was a French perfume manufacturer and the founder of the right-wing paramilitary group Solidarité Française.
Coty was born in Ajaccio, Corsica as Joseph Marie François Spoturno. He married Yvonne Alexandrine Le Baron in 1900.
He began by selling essences derived from flowers in Grasse, and then peddled his scents to the barbers of Paris. His genius, however, was in marketing and in recognizing that the bottle made the perfume. He had bottles designed by the great ceramist Lalique. His Rose Jacqueminot scent was his first great success.
He was one of the wealthiest men in France and owned two Paris newspapers, the proletarian Ami du Peuple and the aristocratic Figaro. He also bought the hunting pavilion of Luciennes near St. Germain-en-Laye, once the property of Madame du Barry. He built multiple large residences, but lived in a hotel on the Champs-Elysées.
He was somewhat of a recluse, disliking crowds of any kind, and hiding behind his public image.