French entrepreneur Yann Pissenem, who controls Ushuaïa, Hï and UNVRS nightclubs in Ibiza, spoke with Pete Tong at the International Music Summit (IMS). He called for balance in the tourist season's length while noting its economic benefits. Pissenem runs an empire accounting for a third of the island's GDP.
Yann Pissenem, a French entrepreneur born in 1974, headlined a talk last Thursday at Eivissa's International Music Summit with DJ Pete Tong. Before an eager audience, he championed Ibiza's nightlife vibrancy, with his three superclubs –Ushuaïa, Hï and UNVRS– dominating from 6pm to 6am over 150 days a year.
Pissenem, employing over 1,500 people with 251,000 personal Instagram followers, addressed the season's length. "I love winter in Ibiza. [...] The island needs to breathe. But [...] it's good for the industry," he said during the exchange. His firm, The Night League, distributed 40 million euros in dividends in 2024 from accumulated profits.
Pissenem started in Ibiza in 2008 after living in Barcelona. He rented a beach club from the Matutes family at Platja d’en Bossa and in 2011 converted a hotel into Ushuaïa Ibiza Beach Hotel, capacity 7,886. Swedish House Mafia and Avicii pioneered its daytime sessions. It opened without an initial party room license, per then-mayor Josep Marí Ribas.
Expansion drew criticism. Rivals like Amnesia's Farré family and Pepe Roselló of Asociación Noches de Ibiza targeted Matutes alliances. In 2011, a fatal incident involved a Ushuaïa security employee, but the club stayed open. Pissenem invested in Hï and UNVRS, the latter promoted by Will Smith.
