Death is kind of stupid, no question. On the other hand, as one of the richest people in the world, he can do nothing. Otherwise the Frenchman Bernard Arnault would probably continue to collect luxury stamps forever, like other stamps or interesting experiences. In the case of Arnault, son of a building contractor from the not-so-pretty Roubaix in northern France, a lot has accumulated in the meantime. It all started on a grand scale with Louis Vuitton bags and suitcases and Moët Hennessy champagne. That’s why his conglomerate is also called LVMH. Rimowa and Birkenstock came later, not quite as glamorous, but rock-solid, just German. Arnault’s instinct to collect doesn’t stop there either.
Despite the Ukraine war, inflation and Corona, the stock market value of LVMH has totaled almost 380 billion euros these days. According to Bloomberg, the luxury conglomerate is the most valuable company in Europe and is worth a good three times as much as SAP, Germany’s stock market heavyweight. So things are going well for him and his company, if only it weren’t for this stupid thing. “I think the basic human problem is death,” he confided to a journalist in a moment of candidness rarer even than diamond-studded crocodile leather bags. He’s 73 now, he has five children from two marriages, and a doer like him sometimes has to make unpleasant decisions. He has done that now, at least a little bit.
No other European is as rich as he is: Bernard Arnault.
(Photo: Christophe Morin/imago)
Not that he would resign. Bon dieu, please don’t misunderstand. He recently had the age limit for the post of CEO raised from 75 to 80 years. And the boss, that’s him, of course. Maybe even until his death. He has nevertheless tackled the arrangements for his successor. Step by step, he makes decisions that show how he imagines things to go when the inevitable has happened.
Arnault promoted his first-born daughter last – but also his son
On Wednesday, he appointed Delphine, the firstborn and his only daughter, to head Dior, arguably his luxury empire’s best-known haute couture brand. The 47-year-old has been Vice President of Louis Vuitton for the past ten years and is therefore responsible for the brand’s products. She had also previously worked for Dior and knows how the business has to run from her father’s point of view.
If not every woman can afford a Dior dress, then at least sell her a Dior perfume, which also increases sales and profits. Each brand can somehow be extended to other products whose manufacture can be industrialized and scaled. This is the key to LVMH’s success. Most recently, Dior has sold more fashion and leather goods than other LVMH brands.
The brand is obviously anything but dusty. After two years of renovation, the Dior flagship store on Avenue Montaigne reopened in Paris last March. By October, more than half a million people had flocked to the boutique, some of whom also bought the odd bottle of perfume.
Antoine Arnault was recently promoted by his father. He may henceforth call himself Deputy Chairman of Christian Dior SE.
(Photo: Sebastien Fremont/Imago/Starface)
So for Delphine, as the new frontwoman of Dior, it’s a very nice present. She is not the crown princess with legitimate hopes of succeeding her father as luxury queen of France. Because the patriarch also recently promoted his eldest son Antoine. The 45-year-old Filius, married to Russian model Natalia Vodianova, nicknamed Supernova, can now call himself Deputy Chairman of Christian Dior SE, the holding company over which the LVMH family controls.
Like all the other children, he also previously worked for one of the luxury brands, most recently for the Berluti shoe label, and was head of the communications department at LVMH. As such, he knows that if asked if he is now his father’s designated successor, he would be better off saying no.