Bernard Arnault
Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault (French: [bɛʁnaʁ ʒɑ̃ etjɛn aʁno]; born 5 March 1949) is a French business magnate, investor, and art collector.He is the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world’s largest luxury goods company.Arnault has an estimated net worth of US$208.1 billion as of March 2023, according to Forbes, making him the wealthiest person in the world. His family is also considered one of the richest families in the world.
The reign of Elon Musk as the richest man in the world was brief. Forbes researchers claim that less than a year after ascending to the top, he has been surpassed by 73-year-old French billionaire Bernard Arnault. They pegged Arnault’s wealth at $180.2 billion (€169.8 billion) as of December 20, which is approximately $17 billion higher than Musk’s.
Co-founding, serving as chairman and CEO of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, also known as LVMH, is Arnault. The majority of the voting shares in the publicly traded corporation go to his holding company, which is also its largest shareholder.
He has previously held the title of world’s richest man. In 2019, 2020, and again in 2021, he held the role for a brief period of time. Arnault may benefit if Musk can quickly update Twitter.
A luxury corporation with 75 distinct brands, LVMH is situated in Paris and sells mostly alcoholic beverages, high-end clothing, and cosmetic. It generated revenues of €64.2 ($68.2 billion) billion in 2021, an increase of 20% from the previous year. 48% of sales were made from leather and fashion items.
Almost 175,000 people work for the company, which is the biggest luxury corporation in the world, and there are 5,500 stores. Statista estimates that in November 2022, its market worth was close to €371 billion, making it one of the most valuable corporations in the world, ahead of Mastercard, Chevron, and Nestle.
Arnault is understated and little known outside of France compared to other people on the list of the world’s richest people. The company’s subsidiaries, however, are anything but understated and include numerous iconic names like Bulgari,Dior, Fendi, Givenchy, and Louis Vuitton, of course. They also own the business Sephora and other Paris department stores. Winemaker Château d’Yquem, which was established in the late 16th century, is the company’s oldest brand.
When Arnault paid roughly $16 billion to acquire the renowned jeweler Tiffany & Co. in 2019, he attracted attention in the United States. He gained media attention in Germany in early 2021 when he acquired a majority stake in Birkenstock, albeit it is not apparent how the sandal manufacturer can be elevated to the status of a luxury brand.
Converting millions of Louis Vuitton bags into money
On the Belgian border in northern France, Arnault was born. He joined his father’s construction company after earning his engineering degree. He concentrated on real estate development there and soon rose to the position of president.
He took over a failing company in 1984 that comprised Christian Dior and the department store Le Bon Marche. That marked his entry into the high-end market. In 1987, Louis Vuitton and Moet Hennessy merged to establish LVMH. In a hostile takeover, he quickly demoted rivals, and in 1989, he was appointed chairman of the executive management board, a position he has held ever since.
He proceeded on a decades-long, multibillion-euro buying binge after becoming the sole leader, snatching up one company after another. He brought in contemporary management and hired new designers to spice things up because many of the brands had been mismanaged and had become outmoded.
Suzy Menkes, a fashion critic for the International Herald Tribune, referred to Arnault, who is reportedly known within the organization as “B.A.,” as the “King of the Logos” in a 1999 profile. She identified the secret to his success both then and now.
The brands should “speak a universal language” and be fresh and contemporary, she argued. And Arnault insists that maintaining each brand’s identity and uniqueness is of utmost importance while maintaining a streamlined organizational structure. This tactichas allowed each brand to maintain some of its independence while become more expert.
The company has focused on growing, particularly through expansion in Asia, which is its largest market, followed by the US and Europe. Its aspirational glitzy advertisement. To attract and entice younger customers, they sell less expensive things like belts, hats, and anything else with a brand.
Arnault also had faith in the potential of the internet. Everything was going online, and LVMH would follow suit while maintaining its exclusivity. Now that many of the businesses have luxurious websites and online stores, they don’t hesitate to show pricing in plain sight.
Making future plans
LVMH is a family business today. The five children of Arnault all collaborate with him in various ways. Arnault is a very reserved person who is always perfectly dressed and has a full head of gray hair. Colleagues seldom ever bring him up. We do know that he plays tennis frequently, loves music, and enjoys art collecting. He was the owner of the Phillips de Pury auction house for a while.
The Foundation Louis Vuitton inaugurated in Paris in 2014. Arnault’s collection is housed at the Frank Gehry-designed museum of modern art, which is slated to be given to the city eventually. Also, he has given millions to charity and to the Notre Dame cathedral’s repair.
What comes next is now the crucial question. Which of his children will lead the business? Do any of them have the potential to succeed him, or will it be distributed among them? And is the business still searching? There are still many brands out there, like Chanel, Armani, Hermes, and others. However Arnault is hardly the only one. His strategy of bringing together family-run luxury enterprises has motivated other companies like Kering and Richemont to follow suit. Although they might be rivals, Arnault developed the luxury roadmap.
