In 1883 the decision was taken to build a metro in Paris, in particular with a view to the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1900.

The municipal council appointed the Compagnie Générale de Traction of the Belgian baron Édouard Louis Joseph Empain to carry out the work.

Compagnie Générale de Traction joined forces with Etablissements Schneider in Le Creusot to found the Compagnie du Chemin de Fer Métropolitain de Paris (CMP) in April 1899 with an initial contribution of 100,000 shares of 250 francs subscribed in Belgium.

Engineer Fulgence Bienvenüe was in charge of the work and line 1 (Porte de Vincennes - Porte Maillot) opened in July 1900 after twenty months of work, line 2 in 1903.

Small issue of 2,500 bonds.