About MR. Arnault
- Bernard Arnault was born on 5 March 1949 in Roubaix France.
- His father’s name is Jean Léon Arnault and Mother’s name is Marie-Josèphe Savine.
- Bernard Arnault is the co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of LVMH Moet Hennessy-Louis Vuitton SE, the world’s largest luxuries goods company.
- In 1973 Arnault married Anne Dewavrin, together having two children, Delphine and Antoine. They separated in 1990.
- In 1991, he married Helene Mercier, a Canadian concert pianist, together having three children, Alexandre, Frédéric, and Jean.
- He is the fourth world’s richest person with the net worth US $136B as per Forbes August 2022 report.
Education and Career
- Arnault was studied at the Lycée Maxence Van Der Meersch in Roubaix, and the Lycee Faidherbe in Lille.
- He was graduated from the France’s leading engineering school in 1971.
- He began work for his father’s company a civil engineering company Ferret-Savinel.
- After three years he convinced his father to shift the focus of the company to real estate, and they sold Ferret-Savinel the industrial construction division and was renamed Ferinel.
- In 1978 with the help of Antoine Bernheim, a senior partner of Lazard Frères, Arnault acquired the Financière Agache, a luxury goods company. 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 took control of Boussac Saint-Frères. Along with Christian Dior, Boussac’s assets included the department store Le Bon Marche, the retail shop Conforama, and the diapers manufacturer Peaudouce.
- After Arnault bought Boussac, he terminated 9,000 workers in two years, after which he acquired the nickname “The Terminator”.
- By 1987, the company was earned of $112 million on a revenue stream of $1.9 billion dollars.
- In the 1980s, Arnault had some idea to create a group of luxury brands. He worked with Alain Chevalier, CEO of Moet Hennessy, and Henry Racamier, president of Louis Vuitton, to form LVMH in 1987.
- In 1988, Arnault funded $1.5 billion to form a holding company with Guinness that held 24% of LVMH’s shares.
- LVMH had been created on the premise that the conglomerate would be too large for a single hostile raider.
- Arnault spent $600 million to buy 13.5% more of LVMH, making him LVMH’s largest shareholder.
- In January 1989, he spent another $500 million to gain control of a total of 43.5% of LVMH’s shares.
- Arnault led the company through an ambitious development plan, transforming it into one of the largest luxury groups in the world.
- Bernard Arnault oversees the LVMH empire of some 70 fashion and cosmetics brands, including Louis Vuitton and Sephora.
- LVMH spent $3.2 billion in 2019 for luxury hospitality group Belmond, which owns or manages 46 hotels, trains and river cruises.
- When it comes to the world of luxury goods, perhaps no one is more successful than Bernard Arnault.
- In July 1988, Arnault acquired Celine.
- LVMH acquired Berluti and Kenzo in 1993, the same year Arnault bought out the French economic newspaper La Tribune.
- In 1994, LVMH acquired the perfume firm Guerlain. In 1996, Arnault bought out Loewe.
Some brands were also integrated into the group.
The main 5 brands integrated into the LVMH Group.
- Thomas Pink In 1990,
- Emilio Pucci in 2000,
- Fendi, 4. DKNY and 5. La Samaritaine in 2001
- In 1999 December Arnault opened LVMH Tower.
- That same year, Arnault turned his eyes on Gucci, an Italian leather goods company, which was run by Tom Ford and Domenico De Sole. He discreetly amassed a 5 percent stake in the company before being detected.
- Arnault had led the company to record sales of US $43.3 billion in 2017, 13% over the previous year, as all divisions turned in strong expected performances. In the same year, the net profit increased upto 29%.
- In January 2021 LVMH completed the purchase of Tiffany after some controversy with reduced deal amount from $16.3 Billion to nearly $16 Billion.
- For a very certain period on 24 May 2021, Arnault temporarily became the richest man in the world, surpassing Jeff Bezos with a net worth of 187.3 billion dollars.
- Along the way, Arnault has brought four of his five adult children into the fold, building a family-run business that has resulted in the world’s third-largest fortune.
Here’s how Arnault got his start and became one of the richest people in the world.