How Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH and first fortune in the world, places his 5 children at the top of the luxury market

In the Arnault family we want the girl. Bernard Arnault, head of luxury group LVMH, has established himself as the richest man in the world since December 9, 2022 (neck to neck with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, according to Forbes) and intends to benefit his family, like most fathers. Thus, for several years, each of these five sons worked their way up the various houses of the conglomerate. And the latest appointment made public on 11 January 2022 probably says a lot about the succession envisaged by the 73-year-old patriarch.

Bernard Arnault prepares the control of LVMH by his 5 children

From 1^um February 2023, the eldest of the clan, Delphine Arnault, 47, becomes CEO of Christian Diorwhilepreviously she was deputy general manager of Louis Vuitton. The latter is the first luxury brand in the world with a turnover of 17 billion euros in 2021, i.e. half of Lvmh’s profits alone (the group’s turnover went from 53 billion in 2019 to 64 billion in 2021: long live the crisis ). Until then, the CEO of Louis Vuitton was Bernard Arnault’s senior collaborator, Michael Burke, and will be replaced starting with Pietro Beccari (who was CEO of Dior, but gives way to Delphine Arnault, follow me? ). But we can already speculate that Delphine Arnault will hone her skills at the helm of Dior (LVMH’s second most profitable house with 6.5 billion in revenue in 2021), before perhaps one day becoming CEO of Louis Vuitton.

Bernard Arnault had for years the ambition to hand over the reins of LVMH to his five sons, in order to secure long-term control by the family alone. The two eldest already sit on the group’s board of directors. Antoine Arnault, 45, was also named CEO of Christian Dior in December 2022.

Recap’ of who directs what among Bernard Arnault’s 5 children in 2023

• Delphine Arnault, 47: CEO of Christian Dior.
• Antoine Arnault, 45 years old: CEO of Christian Dior.
• Alexandre Arnault, 30: Executive director of products and communication at tiffany from 2021.
• Frédéric Arnault, 27: CEO of the luxury watchmaker Heuer label from 2020.
• Jean Arnault, 25: head of watchmaking at Louis Vuitton from 2021.

A French succession story with a global economic impact

This family and financial story may resemble the fictional series Succession, only that it is the reality of the world’s first fortune, which is French and influences the lives of thousands of people. LVMH employs over 175,000 people worldwide, 71% of whom are women (2021 figure reported by FashionUnited). The fashion industry is not trivial for the French economy, as it weighs more (1.7% of GDP) than that of aeronautics (0.7% of GDP) and automotive (0.5% of GDP) put together (2016 data from the Institut Français de la Moda).

And the accumulation of health, environmental, social and political crises have only increased its economic weight. LVMH’s revenues increased by 19% in the third quarter of 2022. Those of Hermès, which belongs to no group, grew outright by 24%. Overall, the luxury market has increased by 15% compared to 2022 and represents 353 billion dollars, as summarized by documentary filmmaker Loïc Prigent with his producer Natacha Morice. In short, fashion doesn’t know the crisis, it enjoys it, and sometimes even with the family.

Front page photo credit: YouTube screenshot.