Bernard Arnault Biography, Personal Life, Early Life, Career
Bernard Arnault Biography:- Bernard Jean Etienne Arnault is a french billionaire businessman and art collector. He is the chairman and Chief executive of LVMH Moet Hennessy – Louis Vuitton SE. It is the largest luxury goods company. Let’s discuss about Bernard Arnault Biography | Who is Bernard Arnault | The career of Bernard Arnault | Early Life of Bernard Jean Etienne Arnault , etc.
Richest Person of the world
In April 2018, he became the richest person in fashion, topping Zara’s Amancio Ortega. Arnault briefly surpassed Jeff Bezos to become the richest person in the world in December 2019.
He again became the world’s richest person for a short time in January 2020.
Lets know about the Bernard Arnault Biography | Who is Bernard Arnault | The career of Bernard Arnault | Early Life of Bernard Jean Etienne Arnault
Who is Bernard Arnault?
Bernard Jean Etienne Arnault is a french billionaire businessman and art collector. He is the chairman and Chief executive of LVMH moet Hennessy – Louis Vuitton SE. It is the largest luxury goods company.
Here are the details regarding Bernard Arnault Biography,
Name – Bernard Jean Etienne Arnault
Father Name – Jean Léon Arnault
Mother Name – Marie-Josèphe Savinel
Born – 5 March 1949
Nationality – French
Alma Mater – École Polytechnique, Palaiseau
Occupation – Businessman, media proprietor, art collector.
Net Worth – $192.2 billion (May 2021)
Title – Chairman and CEO, LVMH and Chairman, Christian Dior SE
Spouse – Anne Dewavrin
Children – 5
Early Life of Bernard Jean Etienne Arnault
Table of Contents
Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault was born on 5 March 1949, in Roubaix, France. His father, manufacturer Jean Léon Arnault, was a graduate of École Centrale Paris.
His mother, Marie-Josèphe Savinel, had a “fascination for Dior”, and was the daughter of Étienne Savinel, who entrusted her husband with the management of his civil engineering company Ferret-Savinel in 1950, and later its ownership.
Ferret-Savinel later became Ferinel, and then the George V Group, before selling its real estate assets to Compagnie Générale des Eaux (CGE), and the real estate business eventually became Nexity.
Arnault was educated at the Lycée Maxence Van Der Meersch in Roubaix and the Lycée Faidherbe in Lille. In 1971, he graduated from the École Polytechnique, France’s leading engineering school, and began work for his father’s company.
Personal life of Bernard Arnault
In 1973, he married Anne Dewavrin, and they had two children together, Delphine and Antoine. They separated in 1990. In 1991, he married Hélène Mercier, a Canadian concert pianist, and they have three children. They live in Paris.
His children Delphine, Antoine, Alexandre, and Frédéric all have official roles in brands controlled by Arnault, along with 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 built in the Netherlands by Feadship.
The career of Bernard Arnault
He began his career in 1971, working for Ferret-Savinel, a company owned by his father, and was its president from 1978 to 1984.
Christian Dior
In 1984, 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 took control of Boussac Saint-Frères, a textile company in turmoil.
Boussac owned Christian Dior, the department store Le Bon Marché, the retail shop Conforama, and the diapers manufacturer Peaudouce. He sold nearly all the company’s assets, keeping only the Christian Dior brand and Le Bon Marché department store.
LVMH
In July 1988, Arnault provided $1.5 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.
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. On 13 January 1989, he was unanimously elected chairman of the executive management board.
Since then, Arnault has 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.
In eleven years, the sales and profit rose by a factor of 5, and the market value of LVMH multiplied by 15. He promoted decisions towards decentralizing the group’s brands. As a result of these measures, the brands are now viewed as independent firms with their own history.
In July 1988, Arnault acquired Céline.
In 1993, LVMH acquired Berluti and Kenzo. In the same year, Arnault bought out the French economic newspaper La Tribune.
The company never achieved the desired success, despite his 150 million euro investment, and he sold it in November 2007 in order to buy a different 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 center in New York to manage LVMH’s presence in the United States. 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.
He has wined so many awards in his business career. Now he is in third place in the world richest member list.
Latest Update Regarding Bernard Arnault
Bernard Arnault now gain the first position of the richest person of the world list with the net worth of the 190.60 Billions Dollars. Jeff Bezos slipped on the second position with the net worth of the 190.50 Billions Dollars. Elon Musk in third position with the net worth of the 155.30 Billions Dollars.
