That’s the question luxury insiders and fashion lovers are asking about the industry’s largest company, LVMH.
The Paris-based giant has always been led solely by founder and CEO Bernard Arnault, the 75-year-old patriarch who is also one of the richest people in the world (he briefly topped the richest people list). last year).
Given LVMH’s influence as Europe’s most valuable company and owner of some of the most popular luxury brands, everyone from investors to buyers are interested in the company’s future.
Arnault’s children work in the family business and most of them also sit on the board of LVMH. This leads to parallels with the television series “Succession” and theories about who could take the reins from him.
But it will be a while before there are any concrete answers, because Arnault has no plans to retire. And although the LVMH boss is aware of the speculation about his future successor, he says the verdict has not yet been made.
“Five of my family members work in the group. Let’s see if one of them has the capacity to take over the leadership,” Arnault said in an interview with Bloomberg. published Tuesday.
As founders and CEOs often do, Arnault considers LVMH his baby. He spends 12 hours a day running the company, which he transformed into a global conglomerate with sales of 86.2 billion euros ($92.17 billion) over the past year.
The luxury boss had LVMH’s board raise the retirement age for its chairman and CEO (himself) from 75 to 80 just so he could stay longer. Afterward, Arnault received a letter from Warren Buffett, the 93-year-old legendary investor and founder of Berkshire Hathaway, warning him that this was a mistake because the age limit was too low, Bloomberg reported.
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Establishing the heirs
The future is inevitable – as is the future succession at LVMH.
The company has restructured its management team and appointed, among others, former Danone CFO Cecile Cabanis as next in line to long-standing CFO Jean-Jacques Guiony.
However, the Arnault family still has a firm grip on LVMH: it holds around 64% of the company’s voting rights and 48% Share ownership. The structure of the conglomerate’s holding company, Agache, was changed to resemble a limited partnership, which even small stakeholders.
Second generation Arnaults New employees have also been rising to key positions in the company for years.
Delphine, 49, is chairwoman and CEO of Christian Dior Couture, part of LVMH’s most lucrative business segment, which includes fashion and leather goods.
Antoine, 47, is the Group’s Image and Environment Director and was instrumental in the signing of a Olympic partnership.
Alexandre, 32, is Executive Vice President of the jewelry brand Tiffany&Co.
Frédéric, 29, heads LVMH’s watch brands, including Tag Heuer and Hublot, where the youngest of the siblings, 25-year-old Jean, is director.
Apart from Jean, four of the five children sit on the board of LVMH.
While LVMH’s succession is shrouded in mystery, we know the players and what’s at stake when it comes to who succeeds Arnault. The patriarch is in no hurry to leave, so we’ll just have to wait and watch.