Biography of Bernard Arnault

 

Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault ([bɛʁnaʁ ʒɑ̃ etjɛn aʁno]; born 5 March 1949) may be a French billionaire business magnate, and art collector. Arnault is that the chairman and chief executive of LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton SE, LVMH, the world's largest luxury-goods company. In April 2018, he became the richest person in fashion, topping Zara's Amancio Ortega.

EARLY LIFE

After graduating from the Lycée Maxence Van Der Meersch in Roubaix, Arnault was admitted to the École Polytechnique in Palaiseau, from which he graduated with a M.Sc, degree in 1971.

His father, Jean Leon Arnault, a graduate of École Centrale Paris, was a manufacturer and therefore the owner of the engineering company, Ferret-Savinel.

CAREER

Bernard Arnault in meeting with Putin , 24 November 2016

Ferinel

After graduation in 1971, Arnault joined his father's company. In 1976, he convinced his father to liquidate the development division of the corporate for 40 million French francs and to vary the main target of the corporate to land . Using the name Férinel, the new company developed a specialty in holiday accommodation. Named the Director of Company Development in 1974, he became the CEO in 1977. In 1979, he succeeded his father as president of the corporate .

Christian Dior

In 1984, with the assistance 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 took control of Boussac Saint-Frères, a textile company in turmoil. Boussac owned Dior , the emporium Le Bon Marché, the retail shop Conforama, and therefore the diapers manufacturer Peaudouce. He sold nearly all the company's assets, keeping only the distinguished Dior brand and Le Bon Marché emporium .

LVMH

In 1987, shortly after the creation of LVMH, the fresh luxury group resulting from the merger between two companies, Arnault mediated a conflict between Alain Chevalier, Moët Hennessy's CEO, and Henri Racamier, president of Louis Vuitton. The new group held property rights to Dior perfumes that Arnault believed should be incorporated into Dior Couture.

In July 1988, Arnault provided $1.5 billion to make a company with Guinness that held 24% of LVMH's shares. In response to rumors that the Louis Vuitton group was buying LVMH's stock to make a "blocking minority", Arnault spent $600 million to shop for 13.5% more of LVMH, making him LVMH's largest shareholder. In January 1989, he spent another $500 million to realize control of a complete of 43.5% of LVMH's shares and 35% of its voting rights, thus reaching the "blocking minority" that he needed to prevent the dismantlement of the LVMH group. On 13 January 1989, he was unanimously elected chairman of the chief management board.

Since then, Arnault has led the corporate through an ambitious development plan, transforming it into one among the most important luxury groups within the world, alongside Swiss luxury giant Richemont and French-based Kering. In eleven years, the sales and profit rose by an element of 5, and therefore the market price of LVMH multiplied by 15. He promoted decisions towards decentralizing the group's brands. As a results of these measures, the brands are now viewed as independent firms with their own history.

Arnault's professional decisions support the thought that LVMH has "shared advantages" like having the strong brands that help finance people who are still developing. The portfolio of major luxury brands features a history of stability, and thus its solidity allows for brand spanking new acquisitions and group development. due to this strategy, Christian Lacroix was ready to open his own fashion house.

In July 1988, Arnault acquired Céline. In 1993, LVMH acquired Berluti and Kenzo. within the same year, Arnault bought out the French economic newspaper La Tribune. the corporate never achieved the specified success, despite his 150 million euro investment, and he sold it in November 2007 so as to shop for a special French economic newspaper, Les Échos, for 240 million euros.

In 1994, LVMH acquired the perfume firm Guerlain. In 1996, Arnault bought out Loewe, followed by Marc Jacobs and Sephora in 1997. These brands were also integrated into the group: Thomas Pink in 1999, Emilio Pucci in 2000 and Fendi, DKNY and La Samaritaine in 2001.

In the 1990s, Arnault decided to develop a centre in ny to manage LVMH's presence within the us . He chose Christian de Portzamparc to supervise this project. The result was the LVMH Tower that opened in December 1999.

1MDB

From 2010 until 2013, Arnault was a member of the Board of Advisors of the Malaysian 1MDB fund.

Other investments

From 1998 to 2001, Arnault invested during a sort of web companies like Boo.com, Libertysurf, and Zebank through his holding Europatweb. Groupe Arnault also invested in Netflix in 1999.

In 2007, Blue Capital announced that Arnault owns jointly with the California property firm Colony Capital 10.69% of France's largest supermarket retailer and therefore the world's second-largest food distributor Carrefour.

In 2008, he entered the yacht business and purchased Princess Yachts for 253 million euros. He subsequently took control of Royal van Lent for an almost identical amount..

In 1998, with businessman Albert Frère he purchased Château Cheval Blanc during a personal capacity. LVMH acquired Arnault's share in 2009 to feature to the group's other wine property Château d'Yquem.

Charity

Arnault's family pledged €200 million to assist repair the Notre-Dame cathedral after a fireplace , said a press release issued on behalf of Arnault.

ART COLLECTOR

Arnault's collection includes work by Picasso, Yves Klein, Moore , and Warhol . He was also instrumental in establishing LVMH as a serious patron of art in France.

The LVMH Young dressmaker was created as a world competition hospitable students from fine-arts schools. per annum , the winner is awarded a grant to support the creation of the designer's own label and with a year of mentorship.

From 1999 to 2003, he owned Phillips de Pury & Company, an art firm , and purchased out the primary French auctioneer, Tajan.

In 2006, Arnault started the building project of the Louis Vuitton Foundation. Dedicated to creation and contemporary art, the building was designed by the architect Frank Gehry. The Foundation's grand opening at the Jardin d'Acclimatation Paris was persisted 20 October 2014.

AWARDS

Commandeur of the Légion d'Honneur (10 February 2007)

Grand Officer of the Légion d'Honneur (14 July 2011)

The Wilson Award for Global Corporate Citizenship (2011)

Honorary Knight Commander of the foremost Excellent Order of British Empire (2012)

The Museum of recent Art's David Rockefeller Award (March 2014)

PERSONAL LIFE

His children Delphine, Antoine, Alexandre and Frédéric all have official roles in brands controlled by Arnault along side his niece Stephanie Watine Arnault.

Arnault owned the 70 m (230 ft) converted research vessel Amadeus, which was sold in late 2015. His current 101.5 m (333 ft) yacht Symphony was inbuilt Netherlands by Feadship.

Request For Belgian Nationality

In 2013, it had been disclosed that Arnault planned to use for Belgian citizenship and was considering moving to Belgium. In April 2013, Arnault said that he had been misquoted which he never intended to go away France: "I repeatedly said that i might stay as a resident in France which i might still pay my taxes.... Today, i made a decision to get rid of any ambiguity. I withdraw my request of Belgian nationality. Requesting Belgian nationality was to raised protect the inspiration that I created with the only purpose of ensuring the continuity and integrity of the LVMH group if I were to disappear." On 10 April 2013, Arnault announced that he had decided to abandon his application for Belgian citizenship, saying he didn't want the move to be misinterpreted as a measure of evasion at a time when France faced economic and social challenges. Arnault also stated that several employees requested to go away France for tax purposes, that he declined their requests, which "the 75% tax wouldn't raise tons of revenue but should prove less divisive now that it had been set to be levied on firms instead of people and only thanks to stay in situ for 2 years."