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hunter007360
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Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault (French: [bɛʁnaʁ etjɛn aʁno]; born 5 March 1949)

is a French businessman, investor and art collector.[2][3] He is the founder, chairman


and CEO of LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods company. Arnault is the third
richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$194 billion as of
July 2024, according to Forbes.[4]

Arnault was raised in a devoutly Catholic household. He pursued engineering


at École polytechnique, graduating in 1971. He began his career in his father's
company, Ferret-Savinel, shifting its focus to real estate, which laid the groundwork
for his future career in the luxury sector.

Arnault's entry into the luxury goods market was marked by his strategic acquisition
of the financially-struggling textile and retail conglomerate Boussac Saint-Frères in
1984, which included the prestigious fashion house Christian Dior. His aggressive
business strategies earned him the nickname "The Terminator," as he revitalized
Dior and sold off other assets for profit. In 1987, he played a key role in the creation
of LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy), a global company in luxury goods, by
merging Louis Vuitton with Moët Hennessy. Through a series of strategic
acquisitions and investments, Arnault changed LVMH into a major company in the
luxury industry, overseeing significant growth and expansion into various sectors,
including fashion, jewelry, watches, and wine.

Arnault's influence extends beyond LVMH, with investments in web companies and
philanthropic endeavors, particularly in the arts. He has been involved in notable real
estate and yacht ventures. His leadership has led to LVMH becoming the largest
company by market capitalization in the eurozone. Despite controversies, including
his attempt to become a Belgian citizen, Arnault's business acumen have solidified
his status as a key figure in the global luxury market.

Early life
Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault was born on 5 March 1949 in Roubaix.[5][6] His mother,
pianist Marie-Josèphe Savinel, daughter of Étienne Savinel, had a "fascination
for Dior skincare and perfume". [citation needed] His father, manufacturer Jean Léon Arnault,
a graduate of École Centrale Paris, owned the civil engineering company Ferret-
Savinel.[6] Raised in a "strict Catholic-Auvergne" style by his devoutly Catholic
grandmother, Arnault took classical piano lessons as a child and attended elite
Catholic schools.[7][8]

Career
Arnault was educated at the Lycée Maxence Van Der Meersch in Roubaix and
the Lycée Faidherbe in Lille.[9][10]

In 1971, he graduated from the École Polytechnique, France's leading engineering


school, and began work for his father's company.[6] Three years later, after he
convinced his father to shift the focus of the company to real estate, Ferret-Savinel
sold the industrial construction division and was renamed Ferinel. Following the
acquisition of a textile company and relocation of its headquarters, the company
renamed the real estate branch to the George V Group. The real estate assets were
later sold to Compagnie Générale des Eaux (CGE), eventually becoming Nexity.[citation
needed]

1971–1987: Professional start


Arnault began his career in 1971, at Ferret-Savinel, and was its president from 1978
to 1984.[6][10] In 1984, Arnault, then a young real estate developer, heard that the
French government was set to choose someone to take over the Boussac Saint-
Frères empire, a textile and retail conglomerate that owned Christian Dior.[11]

With the help of Antoine Bernheim, a senior partner of Lazard Frères, Arnault
acquired the Financière Agache, a luxury goods company.[12] 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 taking control of Boussac
Saint-Frères. After Arnault bought Boussac, he laid off 9,000 workers in two years,
after which he acquired the nickname "The Terminator".[11] He sold nearly all of the
company's assets, keeping only the Christian Dior brand and Le Bon Marché
department store.[citation needed] By 1987, the company was profitable again and booked
earnings of $112 million on a revenue stream of $1.9 billion.[12]

1987–1989: Co-founding and acquisition of LVMH


See also: LVMH - Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton
He worked with Alain Chevalier, CEO of Moët Hennessy, and Henry Racamier,
president of Louis Vuitton, to form LVMH in 1987.[13]

In July 1988, Arnault provided $1.6 billion to form a holding 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 form a "blocking minority", Arnault spent
$600 million to buy 13.5% more of LVMH, making him LVMH's largest shareholder.
LVMH had been created on the premise that the conglomerate would be too large for
a single hostile raider.[11] However, the premise failed to take into account internal
takeover attempts. The fault became too large to ignore when Arnault had a differing
strategic vision from Henry Racamier, Louis Vuitton's president.[14]

In January 1989, he spent another $500 million to gain control of a total of 43.5% of
LVMH's shares and 35% of its voting rights, thus reaching the "blocking minority"
that he needed to stop the dismantlement of the LVMH group.[14] He then turned on
Racamier, stripped him of his power, and ousted him from the board of
directors.[11] On 13 January 1989, he was unanimously elected chairman of the
executive management board.[14]

1989–2001: LVMH's Initial expansion and growth


After assuming leadership, Arnault led the company through an ambitious
development plan, transforming it into one of the largest luxury groups in the world,
alongside Swiss luxury giant Richemont and French-based Kering.[15] In eleven
years, annual sales and profit rose by a factor of 5, and the market value of LVMH
increased by a factor of 15. In July 1988, Arnault acquired Céline.[12] That same year,
he sponsored French fashion designer Christian Lacroix to advertise the company's
luxury clothing line.[14] LVMH acquired Berluti and Kenzo in 1993, the same year
Arnault bought out the French economic newspaper La Tribune.[16] La Tribune never
achieved the desired success, despite his 150 million euro[citation needed] investment, and
he sold it in November 2007 to buy a different French economic newspaper, Les
Échos, for €240 million.[17][18]

In 1994, LVMH acquired the perfume firm Guerlain.[19] In 1996, Arnault bought
out Loewe,[20] followed by Marc Jacobs and Sephora in 1997.[21] Five more 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 center in New York to manage LVMH's
presence in the United States. He chose Christian de Portzamparreke to supervise
this project.[22] The result was the LVMH Tower that opened in December
1999.[23] That same year, Arnault turned his eyes to 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.[11] Gucci responde

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