One of the richest people in France - Bernard Arnault, whose fortune, according to Forbes magazine, is estimated at thirty-seven billion euros - purposefully went to such success. Since 1989, he has been the head of LVMH (Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton), a leader in the production and sale of luxury goods.
Start
Arno's father had a small construction company, and although it was not at all according to his son's ambitions, he handed it over to a twenty-five-year-old young man. Bernard Arnault parted with the construction at the first opportunity, literally two years later, but he confronted his father with the fact of the sale after the completion of the transaction. For the next four years, the young man studied business in the United States and perfectly studied the procedures of mergers and acquisitions, adopting American methods of hostile takeover of companies.
In France, this knowledge quickly turned into skills. The money from the sale of the family business was more than successfully invested. It so happened that Boussac, a textile conglomerate that owned, among other things, the famous Christian Dior fashion house, went bankrupt. frenchthe government was looking for a buyer among the hunters for this tidbit. Bernard Arnault was ahead of everyone, even Louis Vuitton. He took money from the bank because he needed 80 million dollars, and he had 15, and bought shares in this company first from relatives who were the owners, then from the government.
Luxury
The revival of the bankrupt company Boussac, in principle, was not planned. Arno sold off assets as much as possible. However, unexpectedly fell under the influence of the fashion world, Christian Dior decided to keep and create the production and sale of luxury goods at the level of the world leader. Naturally, it was impossible to do this from scratch, and in 1988 Bernard Arnault began to buy shares in the newly formed company LVMH. It was a real explosive mixture: Moet champagne, Hennessy cognac and the world famous Louis Vuitton company.
However, there was a unifying idea: different brands belonged to the luxury class. The economy around the world is experiencing the conditions of globalization, it is expensive to promote and maintain each individual brand, and a single portfolio is not so heavy. It turned out that even trading in luxury goods, there is an opportunity to save money, which is what Bernard Arnault did. A photo of this period shows a person who is both serious and self-confident.
Empire
This tactic paid off almost immediately. Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) keeps such resonant brands under control todayfashion world like Christian Lacroix, Givenchy, Kenzo, Loewe, Berluti, Guerlain, Celine, jewelers Fred and Swiss watchmakers Tag Heuer.
Alcohol brands have also increased - these are Dom Perignon, Veuve Clicquot, Krug, Pommery. The empire is growing, and Bernard Arnault, whose biography is the life story of one of the born businessmen, is still one of the most active buyers in the world.
Not without defeats
One of them happened when trying to add all the others to the existing own share of Gucci in order to become the sole owner. The ruling family of this old and luxurious firm had a strong quarrel - apparently, they were tired of each other since 1923. By the 1980s, the company was in complete decline. True, after thinking carefully, Bernard Arnault refused to buy because of the terrifying neglect of all affairs. Then he regretted this decision, but they asked for the company too expensive. I tried to persuade the manager, offering him a salary worthy of this step. He hesitated.
Then Arno, as they say, bit the bit and filed a lawsuit in the court of Holland ("Gucci" is registered in Amsterdam as a legal entity) regarding the unfair management of the company. The manager (De Sole) was also no stranger: with a team of American business lawyers, he implemented a capital dilution scheme by issuing twenty million shares. Arno's share was eventually halved. Then De Sole sold forty percent of the shares to Arnaud's competitor, Francois Pinault, whom they had encountered on the business paths a long time ago.
But notno luck
In addition to the above, Bernard Arnault owns the Philips auction company, the same one. that she sold Malevich's "Black Square" for fifteen million dollars. He also has his own media: the financial publications Investir and Tribune, the art magazine Connaissances Des Arts, the radio station Classique, as well as ten percent of the shares of the owner of the TF1 television channel, Bouigue Corporation. In addition, investments in a holding of sixty Internet companies - Europatweb.
The secret (and not a secret already!) of the success of entrepreneur Bernard Arnault is the purchase of dying famous firms, which are then brought to the level of super profits. The fortune is growing dizzyingly. A businessman has a good sense of business, besides, he is lucky, and luxury products are invariably in high demand. It should be noted that he is also famous for his charity work. Arno is a sponsor of art galleries, supports all the invalids of the Academy of Fine Arts who study there, spends a lot on finding talent in art and business.
Personality
Bernard Arnault and family own an excellent collection of Renaissance paintings and love classical music. The father of the family plays the piano well himself, and he married the famous Canadian pianist Helen Mercier, who bore him children. Like almost all Frenchmen, Bernard Arnault is a gourmet. Likes steak with blood and chocolate cake. But he does not recognize familiarity: even the closest ones turn to him as you and very often - in a whisper. Doesn't like to speak in publicrefuses an interview. He almost never smiles, and even his relatives have never seen him laughing. He speaks little. Thinks a lot. Such is the whole Bernard Arnault.
Children
He has many children (data are different), but two are fighting for the inheritance - the French empire LVMH: daughter Delphine and son Antoine. The key asset of the group's portfolio is Louis Vuitton, and recently Delphine Arnaud-Gancia was appointed its vice president. A responsible position, since this brand generates much more than half of the entire profit of the empire. Antoine, on the other hand, heads another company, a men's one - Berluti.
Delfina has a very good education, which allowed her to quickly make a career: a French business school and an English school of economics. Already in 2003, she was on the board of directors of LVMH. For five years she worked as Deputy Director of Christian Dior Couture, during which time the sales growth rate became twice the industry average. It is quite possible that she will inherit the entire empire created by her father. Although many continue to bet on Antoine. No one knows what dad himself, who has three more children and many nephews, thinks about all this.
Son of Bernard Arnault
Delphina is an introvert, all like her father. As the witty French say about her, "Napoleon of the luxury industry" or "she-wolf in a cashmere coat." Strict, harsh and laconic. Many believe that, of course, she will occupy a large and important post in the empire, something related toshares or chairmanship of the board of directors. But Antoine is an extrovert, an excellent manager and may well become the face of the entire huge group. Colleagues praise him for his excellent communication skills. It was he who was able to persuade Mikhail Gorbachev to appear in the Louis Vuitton commercial, which received the Cannes Lions award.
A constant gossip hero, Antoine takes every step he takes, looking back at his work. An affair with model Natalya Vodianova only fueled interest in the brand. Bernard Arnault and Vodianova are connected by the fact that she is the wife of his son and the mother of his grandson Maxim. Antoine, for all his cheerfulness, is always internally collected - it is not without reason that he is considered the most experienced poker player (with a total winnings of six hundred thousand dollars), for this a head is needed much more than luck. And he does not exclude that someday he will replace his father in office. But not soon.
Spivakov and Louis Vuitton
As a true lover of classical music and a famous philanthropist, Bernard Arnault knows and is friends with many great musicians. Vladimir Spivakov and Bernard Arnault met on the same grounds. The latter even made a much-needed gift to the musician on his birthday - a Stradivari case. Such that it would be convenient not only for the violin, but also for the musician himself on endless tours. The case was made by Patrick-Louis Vuitton himself.
It contained not only cash and a passport, but also letters dear to the heart, contracts, strings, several bows, cufflinks, photographs of children, wife, some medicines, notebooks andmany, many more. There are no pockets for all this in a hard case. In this, gift, there were not even pockets, but drawers with partitions, as if for jewelry. A unique luxury item for a musician, which, in principle, is alien to any luxury. However, in this case, it turned out not only unique, but also convenient.
Wonderful ship
Parisians call this house a crystal ship and consider it one of the sights of the French capital, an architectural marvel of our time. The initiative to create the Center for Contemporary Art belongs entirely to Bernard Arnault. It was he who decided to give Paris such a special place where culture and art would reign. The building of the architect F. Gehry turned out to be in a futuristic style, very similar to a ship with sails full of wind.
This beautiful house of the Louis Vuitton Foundation hosted a performance by the Moscow Virtuosos, a chamber ensemble conducted by Vladimir Spivakov, a world-famous musician whose violin with a fantastically famous name, brilliantly playing Bach and Tchaikovsky, is resting in a case crafted no less skillful and no less famous hands. Things next to which life itself becomes a work of art.
