The company was founded by Francis Bouygues in 1952. In 1970 Bouygues became listed on the Paris Stock Exchange. In 1985 and 1986 Bouygues acquired road construction groups Screg, Sacer and Colas; later reorganised as Colas Group. In 1987 the company started operating the television channel TF1 and in 1988 Bouygues moved into its new head office, the Challenger complex, in Saint-Quentin en Yvelines. In 1996 the company launched Bouygues Télécom and in 2006 the company acquired 23.26% of Alstom. In 2010, through its subsidiary Nerem Telecom, Boygues also acquired HGT Telecom for $170 million from Henri Benezra and his brother Avi.In 2014, consecutively to Alstom's cession of its Energy activities to General Electric, Bouygues granted a call option to the French government allowing it to acquire a maximum of 20% of Alstom, currently owned by the group. In May 2018, the company purchased the Australian construction company A. W. Edwards.
