Bernard Arnault is one of the richest person in the world as of July, 2024 according to Forbes. He is a french businessman, investor and an art collector. Arnault is the founder, chairman and the CEO of LVMH, which is the world’s largest luxury goods company. Under his leadership, LVMH has become the greatest company by market capitalization in eurozone. He was inclined towards music and education from his childhood.
Arnault started his career in his father’s company ferret-savinel. He convinced his father to shift the focus of the company to real state and later the real state assets were sold to Compagnie Générale des Eaux (CGE), which eventually became Nexity.
Family
Bernard Arnault was born on 5 March, 1949. His mother, Marie- Josephe Savinet was a pianist and had a “fascination for Dior skincare and perfume”. His father, Jean Leon Arnault was a manufacturer and owned the civil engineering company Ferret-Savinel. Arnault took classic piano lessons as a child and attended eliite Catholic Schools.
Education & Qualification
Bernard Arnault was educated at the Lycee Maxence Van Der Meersch in Roubaix and the Lycee Faidherbe, a senior high school in Lille. He graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique, which is the France’s leading engineering school.
Career
The Professional start of Bernard Arnault’s career was in 1971, at Ferret-Savinel. He was its President from 1978 to 1984. He became the CEO of Financière Agache and subsequently won the bidding war for Boussac Saint-Frères, buying the group for a ceremonial one franc and effectively taking control of Boussac Saint-Frères.
Arnault worked with Alain Chevalier, CEO of Moët Hennessy, and Henry Racamier, president of Louis Vuitton to form LVMH in 1987. Under the Leadership of Bernard Arnault, the company transformed into one of the largest luxury groups in the world. In eleven years, the annual sales and profit of the company rose by a actor of 5 and the market value of LVMH increased by a factor of 15. Isn’t that amazing, right?
From 1988, Arnault acquired luxury fashion houses like Celine, Kenzo, Loewe, Fendi and DKNY. He bought brands like, Berluti, La Tribune (French Economic Newspaper), Guerlain (perfume firm), Sephora, Thomas Pink and La Samaritaine.
Arnault developed a centre in New York and opened the LVMH Tower in December 1999. He even tried to takeover Gucci. He put a 5% stake in the company, without being noticed to which, Gucci responded in a hostile way and called it a “creepy takeover”. He then upped his stake to 34.4% and insisted that he wanted to be a supportive stakeholder. Demenico De Sole, the ceo of Gucci proposed that in return for board representation, Arnault would stop increasing his stake. He rejected this proposal and the fight dragged on until September 2001. After the legal ruling, LVMH sold its shares and walked away with $700 million in profit.
Arnault then, bought Chateau Cheval Blanc, with a belgian billiionaire, Albert Frere. Arnault has promoted decisions toward decentralizing the group’s brands as a business strategy. As a result of these measures, brands under the LVMH umbrella such as Tiffany are still viewed as independent firms with their history.
Personal Life
Arnault married Anne Dewavrin in 1973. They had two children, a daughter named Delphine Arnault and a son named, Antoine Arnault. Both their children are bussinessman/woman in today’s date. Yeah.. obviously! All because of their father’s greatness. Well eventually, Arnault seperated with his first wife in 1990.
In 1991, Arnault married Helene Mercier, a Canadian concert pianist. They have three sons, Alexandre, Frederic (CEO of LVMH) and Jean Arnault live with Mercier in Paris. He has four grandchildren, two from his son Antoine and two from his daughter, Delphine.
All his five children have official roles in brands controlled by Arnault. Alexandre is the EVP of Tiffany and Co., Frederic is the CEO of LVMH Watches, and Jean is the Director of Watchmaking Marketing and Development at Louis Vuitton. Arnault’s daughter Delphine is the CEO of luxury brand Dior.
| Full Name | Bernard Jean Etienne Arnault |
| Age | 75 years |
| Date Of Birth | 5 March, 1949 |
| Birth Place | Roubaix, France |
| Spouse | Anne Dewavrin (married-1973, seperated 1990) Helene Mercier (married- 1991) |
| Children | Delphine Arnault and Antoine Arnault (from Anne) Alexandre, Frederic and Jean |
| Salary per year | $2.6 million |
| Salary per week | $29,477,605.60 |
| Salary per day | $4,211,086.40 |
| Salary per hour | $175,465.20 |
| Salary per minute | $2,924.42 |
| Salary per second | $48.74 |
| Net worth | $193 billion |
Bernard Arnault was the richest person in the world with the networth of $218 billion, according to Forbes in May 20204. By 14 June, 2024 according to Forbes, Elon Musk has regained the first place with Jeff Bezos at the second place and Arnault in the third place with a networth of $194.2 billion.
FAQs
Q. Who is Bernard Arnault?
A. Bernard Arnault is a french businessman, who is well known for being France’s premier luxury fashion tycoon.
Q. Which brands does Bernard Arnault own?
A. Bernard Arnault owns more than 70+ brands, some of which are Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Marc Jacobs, Fendi, Tiffany &Co., Chaumet, Bulgari, Acqua di Parma, Guerlain, Perfumes Loewe, La Samaritaine, Le Bon Marche, La Grande Epicerie, Sephora, DFS, Belvedere, Henessy, Chateau Cheval Blanc, and many more.
Q. Who owns Louis Vuitton now?
A. Louis Vuitton is owned by Bernard Arnault.
Q. Who owns the most luxury brands?
A. Most of the luxury brands are owned by the french businessman, Bernard Arnault.
Q. How did Bernard Arnault get so rich?
A. Arnault was never poor. The merge of Louis Vuitton and Moet Hennessy made lots of money and LVMH became the leader of luxury goods.