These are the heirs of his luxury empire

Bernard Arnault is the richest person on the planet according to Forbes, with a fortune valued at 200.8 billion dollars. Much of it comes from his business conglomerate LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) dedicated to the luxury industry.

Under its umbrella are more than 70 brands of fashion, vineyards, cosmetics, watches or jewelry, such as Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co, Moët & Chandon, Dom Pérignon, Ruinart, Céline, Christian Dior, Fendi, Givenchy, Guerlain, TAG Heuer or Loewe.

Chess moves to position your pawns

The 75-year-old French billionaire is beginning to prepare the ground for a progressive withdrawal from his duties as CEO of the firm.

During the last few years, the businessman has been linking his children with different firms of the corporation. He is now making much more ambitious moves, placing his heirs in the main management positions of the business consortium. These are the children who will succeed Bernard Arnault and what positions they occupy.

Bernard Arnault has five children, the result of two marriages. The first of them was with Anne Dewavrin, with whom he was married between 1973 and 1990. With her he had her two oldest children, Delphine and Antoine Arnault. In 1991, he married the pianist Hélène Mercier-Arnault, with whom he had three youngest children: Alexandre, Frédéric and Jean.

Delphine Arnault

Delphine Arnault is the older sister and the only girl of the new generation called to lead the company in the coming years. She was born in 1975 in Roubaix, like her father and many of her siblings.

His training has been oriented towards the financial management of his father’s company. He studied at the EDHEC Business School in Paris and the London School of Economics. After finishing his studies, he began working at the consulting firm McKinsey until he joined the family company in 2020.

At 49 years old, Delphine Arnault holds a position on the Board of Directors of LVMH, a task that she combines with her position as CEO of Christian Dior Couture. In the past, she has served as deputy CEO of Louis Vuitton.

Antoine Arnault

Antoine is 47 years old and, like his sister, was born in the French town of Roubaix. Like his sister, his training was already aimed at business administration, although he chose a somewhat further destination to train. He studied at the HEC in Montreal and graduated from the prestigious Institut européen d’administration des affaires (European Institute of Business Administration) in Fontainebleau in France.

His passion for art and his affinity with his father place him as the best positioned to succeed Bernard Arnault at the head of the family conglomerate. Currently, he is CEO of the Berluti and Loro Piana brandsas well as a member of the LVMH Executive Committee.

Alexandre Arnault

Alexandre was the first child of Arnault’s second marriage, born in 1992. Just one year after the marriage. In his education, she followed in his father’s footsteps, graduating from the same engineering school École Polytechnique with a specialty in Computer Engineering.

After finishing his studies, he quickly began to acquire business knowledge in consulting firms such as McKinsey and as an analyst in investment funds such as KKR.

He is, without a doubt, the most social and communicative of the brothers, earning the reputation of being “the friend of celebrities.” That ability to move on social networks and connect with influencers, celebrities and artists has made Alexandre the best ambassador of the corporation.

Alexandre was for years CEO of the German luggage company Rimowa, owned by LVMH. Arnault’s middle son surprised everyone and everyone, obtaining that management position only three years after finishing his training, when it took his brothers almost a decade to reach that level of management.

In 2021, Bernard Arnault gave him greater responsibilities by appointing him executive vice president of product and communications at Tiffany & Co.

Frederic Arnault

Frédéric is the second son of Hélène and Bernard’s second marriage. Unlike his older brothers, Frédéric’s training has been more oriented towards physics and mathematics. He graduated from the prestigious Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris in mathematics, physics and computer science. His training continued at the École Polytechnique as his father and his older brother had done, where he obtained a degree in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics.

This technological knowledge helped him become part of the technology department of the watch brand TAG Heuer, rising to executive director. Just a few days ago, the young Frédéric, aged 29, was named CEO of Financiere Agacheone of the holding companies that is part of the family business group.

Jean Arnault

At 26 years old, Jean is the youngest of the Arnault clan, and has just joined the family business world.

All of his university education has been spent outside France, graduating in mechanical engineering at Imperial College London, and then pursuing an MBA in financial mathematics at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Regarding his short work career, for the moment he has limited himself to learning about the management of the jewel in the crown: Louis Vuitton. After a brief foray into the company’s sales department, he became the marketing and development director of the brand’s watch division. Now run that division.

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Image | Flickr (Jérémy Barande), Louis Vuitton (Jean-François Robert)