Bernard Arnault

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Bernard Arnault

Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault (born March 5, 1949 in Roubaix , Nord-Pas-de-Calais ) is a French entrepreneur and billionaire. On the 2020 list of the richest people in the world published by the business magazine Forbes Magazine , his fortune is stated at around 76 billion US dollars , which puts him in third place.

The graduate engineer since 1985, majority owner of Christian Dior SA and since 1989 PDG of luxury goods - group LVMH Moet Hennessy - Louis Vuitton (LVMH), to which, among other brands such as the leather goods maker Louis Vuitton , the champagne -Fabrikant Moët & Chandon and the cognac maker Hennessy . Through his Holding Groupe Arnault , he owns 70.4% of the shares in Christian Dior and, through a subsidiary and own shares, a total of almost 47% of the shares in LVMH (with over 64% of the voting rights). He is also the owner of the business newspaper Les Échos .

Life

Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault was born to Jean Arnault and Marie-Jo Savinel. His father ran a real estate business .

After attending high school, Arnault enrolled at the École polytechnique in Paris for engineering . After completing his studies in 1971, he joined his father's company, Ferret-Savinel . In 1973 he married Anne Dewavrin, from whom he later separated. He has two children with her, Delphine and Antoine. From 1978 to 1984 Arnault served as the company's president.

Arnault had great success building holiday homes on the Côte d'Azur . After the Socialist Party under François Mitterrand came to power in 1981 , Arnault emigrated to the United States . There he continued his success with vacation rentals - for example in Palm Beach  .

In 1984 Arnault returned to France from the USA. In the following year he entered the public consciousness for the first time as an entrepreneur with his holding company Financière Agache (later: Groupe Arnault ) when he took over the ailing textile group Boussac / Saint-Frères , whose subsidiaries also included Christian Dior's fashion company . He restructured the company and sold a large part.

At the beginning of 1987 Arnault was instrumental in the rise of Christian Lacroix , whom he brought into the fashion business. In the same year he bought the company Celine , which had specialized in leather luxury items.

Towards the end of the 1980s, Arnault increasingly acquired shares in the French holding company LVMH , in which the luxury leather goods company Louis Vuitton and the champagne and cognac manufacturer Moët Hennessy had merged. Stepping in as a supporter for Vice President Henry Racamier , Arnault had his own interest in the group.

In 1989, Arnault, together with the investment bank Lazard Frères and the British spirits giant Guinness, acquired a majority stake in LVMH and became president of the group against the will of the Vuitton and Hennessy family members.

Bernard Arnault has been married to Hélène Mercier for the second time since 1991, with whom he has three children - Alexandre, Frédéric and Jean.

In 1997, Arnault was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Montaigne .

In his capacity as an important art collector, Arnault founded the Louis Vuitton Foundation (French Fondation Louis Vuitton pour la création ) in 2006 , for which the American architect Frank O. Gehry built an exhibition building in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris .

In October 2019, Arnault was criticized in the media during the opening of a new Louis Vuitton production facility in Texas , which was also attended by US President Trump . Arnault defended himself by pointing out that he was traveling as a businessman and not a political actor. Louis Vuitton chief designer Nicolas Ghesquière had previously criticized Trump's participation on his Instagram profile.

Private

Arnault's Yacht Symphony in Port Hercule

Bernard Arnault collects contemporary art and plays the piano .

With the Belgian Albert Frère , Arnault has owned the Cheval Blanc winery in Saint-Emilion, one of the largest grand cru wineries in the Bordeaux region, since 1998.

He is a friend of Nicolas Sarkozy and was also his best man at the wedding with Cécilia Sarkozy in 1996.

In early September 2012, Arnault applied for Belgian citizenship. After being accused of trying to avoid the high French taxes by changing his nationality, he withdrew the application in 2013.

After the fire in Notre Dame in April 2019, Arnault announced that he would donate 200 million euros to rebuild the cathedral . In September of the same year, Arnault signed an agreement with the Fondation Notre Dame for this sum.

Awards

Arnault received in 2007 the award of a commander ( commandeur ) and 2011 of a Grand Officer ( grand officier ) of the French Legion of Honor and the National Order of Merit of France.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ World's Billionaires List. Forbes Magazine , 2020, accessed May 19, 2020 .
  2. ↑ The luxury hunter . In: manager-magazin-Spezial 2006, October 10, 2006, page 86
  3. ^ Stefan Ulrich : Rules of the crazy game - France's media election campaign; in Süddeutsche Zeitung on February 15, 2012
  4. ↑ a b c d Who is Who: Bernard Arnault . ( Memento of the original from October 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Vogue  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.vogue.de
  5. ↑ a b FIVE WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE . In: Fortune Magazine , December 19, 1988
  6. ↑ Profits at their finest . In: Die Zeit , 50/1994, December 9, 1994, page 33.
  7. ↑ The largest luxury company in the world . In: manager Magazin , December 14, 2001.
  8. ^ A b Vanessa Friedman: When Brand Trump Met Brand Vuitton . In: The New York Times . October 18, 2019, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed October 24, 2019]).
  9. ↑ a b Silvia Ihring: Louis Vuitton adorns himself with Donald Trump - and receives criticism . October 22, 2019 ( welt.de [accessed October 24, 2019]).
  10. ↑ @nicolasghesquiere on Instagram: “Standing against any political action. I am a fashion designer refusing this association #trumpisajoke #homophobia “. Retrieved October 24, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Not a bit tired . In: Handelsblatt , July 22, 2008
  12. ↑ Abolish this office! In: Die Zeit , 15/2007, page 43
  13. ^ The richest Frenchman applies for Belgian citizenship, FAZ Online, September 9, 2012
  14. ↑ Le Figaro: Bernard Arnault renonce à la nationalité belge. April 10, 2013, accessed on February 25, 2020 (French).
  15. ↑ DER SPIEGEL: Notre Dame: Bernard Arnault donates 200 million euros for reconstruction - DER SPIEGEL - Economy. Retrieved February 25, 2020 .
  16. ↑ It's official: French tycoons finalize € 300m donations for fire-ravaged Notre Dame. Retrieved February 25, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Décret du 13 juillet 2011 portant élévation aux dignités de grand'croix et de grand officier ( Memento of February 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), legiondhonneur.fr, July 13, 2011.
personal data
SURNAME Arnault, Bernard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Arnault, Bernard Jean Etienne (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French entrepreneur and billionaire
DATE OF BIRTH March 5, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Roubaix , France