One afternoon in July, not long after being named the wealthiest man on the planet by Forbes, Bernard Arnault, the head of the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton luxury goods empire, took his place on a stage with a view of the Eiffel Tower before a packed crowd of French dignitaries and reporters.
In the front row sat four of his five adult children — the fifth was watching from New York, where he is an executive at Tiffany & Company. Their father had raised all of them since they could walk to one day run the LVMH conglomerate.
The occasion was Mr. Arnault’s announcement that LVMH would provide 150 million euros (about $161 million) to sponsor the 2024 Paris Olympics. LVMH companies will play a starring role. Chaumet, a Paris jeweler whose clients once included Napoleon’s wife Joséphine, will design the Olympic medals, and Moët Hennessy wines will flow in hospitality suites.
“The partnership will help promote France throughout the world,” Mr. Arnault declared. As television cameras zoomed in, his eldest son, Antoine, the head of communications and image for LVMH, uttered what could be a tagline for this huge company his father has built: “For a dream, there is no price.”
It was a moment of public triumph for Mr. Arnault, a sign of how embedded in the fabric of France LVMH has become. Over more than 30 years, he has forged LVMH into the world’s largest luxury group and the most valuable company in France, with a presence in 81 countries. His brands — 75 of them — are the stars of the luxury world, including Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Tiffany and Dom Pérignon Champagne. It has given him entree to prime ministers and presidents, and allowed him to amass a museum-worthy art collection.
But his success has brought challenges. In France, Mr. Arnault has become a lightning rod for anger over growing economic inequality. In April, 10 days after Forbes put him atop its annual list of richest people, protesters stormed his office in Paris during nationwide strikes over raising the retirement age. His effigy was burned as a symbol of capitalist evil.
Mr. Arnault’s five children were taught in France’s best schools and raised to take leadership posts in the business, but his dream of keeping LVMH in the family may force him to elevate one above the rest.
And in recent months LVMH’s stock has taken a beating, down 19 percent since hitting a high in April. The company reported a dip in U.S. sales in the second quarter, and the Chinese economy, a big source of LVMH’s revenue, is faltering.
The falling shares mean that Mr. Arnault (now worth about $195 billion, Forbes says) dropped to the second-richest person in the world in June, eclipsed by Elon Musk. This month, LVMH was replaced as Europe’s most valuable company by Denmark’s Novo Nordisk, the maker Ozempic and Wegovy, the hugely popular drugs being used for weight loss.
At 74, Mr. Arnault has been working to make sure his company — created by gobbling up many European…
2023-09-14 04:00:33
Post from www.nytimes.com
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