Two of French style tycoon Arnault’s sons ‘to affix LVMH board’

Two sons of the world’s richest man are set to affix the Succession-style scramble to switch him as chief of a £300 billion empire.

Fashion tycoon Bernard Arnault, the top of French multinational conglomerate LVMH , is anticipated to appoint Alexandre, 31, and Frédéric, 29, to the board of the corporate, additional cementing the maintain the household’s subsequent era has over it.

The transfer is being keenly watched for indicators pointing to who 74-year-old Bernard will in the end select as his successor, a race that already includes two of his older heirs from his first marriage: Delphine, 48, and Antoine, 46.

The addition of the brothers, sons of Bernard’s second spouse Hélène Mercier, would additional open up the succession race at LVMH, which homes luxurious manufacturers similar to Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Tiffany & Co. below its huge cover.

While there have lengthy been solutions that Delphine is Bernard’s favorite, Alexandre and Frédéric have each proven nice, early ambition.

Arnault’s eldest son Antoine, who’s married to Russian mannequin Natalia Vodianova, has lengthy been assumed to be the frontrunner, though this is not essentially the case.

There can also be a fifth sibling, 25-year-old Jean, who if his older brothers had been to be voted onto the board would change into the one sibling to not have a seat.

What provides to the intrigue – as with the fictional story of the rich and back-stabbing Roy household who’re jockeying for energy of their father’s media dynasty in HBO‘s ‘Succession’ – is that each one 5 youngsters from Arnault’s two marriages are employed within the household enterprise vying for approval – and nothing is but determined.

News that Alexandre and Frédéric could be put ahead was first reported by French outlet La Lettre, who cited folks conversant in the choice, and has fuelled contemporary hypothesis over who will take over from Bernard when he steps away.

The report additionally got here forward of LVMH publishing its annual outcomes on Thursday, which may very well be a platform for a proper announcement.

In April 2023, LVMH – Europe’s second largest firm – turned the primary on the continent to surpass a valuation of $500 billion amid a three-year growth within the luxurious items market throughout and following the coronavirus pandemic.

Any board nominations should be voted by way of by shareholders in April on the firm’s annual assembly. That should not be an excessive amount of of a roadblock, nonetheless. 

The Arnault household owns greater than 48 % of LVMH’s shares, and holds about 64 % of the voting rights, in line with the Financial Times.

All 5 of the youngsters already work in numerous elements of the sprawling enterprise empire, with every being intently scrutinised by their father for the way they function.

Alexandre is understood publicly for having fun with the corporate of glamorous A-List celebrities, with Beyonce and Jay-Z even attending his marriage ceremony in 2021.

But he began his profession at LVMH younger by serving to to information the takeover of the Rimowa baggage chain, which the corporate purchased in 2017.

The 31-year-old now heads up merchandise and communication at Tiffany & Co.

Third in line to the LVMH throne, Alexandre is reportedly considered as probably the most charismatic and well-connected, in line with The Telegraph.

Frédéric in the meantime, reportedly a gifted tennis participant and extremely educational, is claimed to be most much like his father when it comes to character.

He went into the household enterprise in 2017, and have become head of technique and digital director at watch model Tag Heuer, earlier than taking up as Chief Executive in 2020. 

Earlier this month, he was promoted to the top of LVMH’s watch division, overseeing Tag Heuer, in addition to its Hublot and Zenith luxurious watch manufacturers.

Their early ambition and promising observe file has led to some observers predicting the battle for succession shall be between these two brothers. 

Nevertheless, the household have insisted that succession just isn’t of their ideas.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Frédéric stated ‘succession just isn’t a subject we take into consideration as we speak. It will are available due time. And he is [Bernard] a grasp of timing.’

However, there are indicators that the query over who will exchange him is usually on Bernard’s thoughts, with the patriarch himself having spoken about it publicly earlier than.

‘One or extra of my youngsters taking up after me shall be based mostly on their potential, their expertise and their need, as a result of it should be understood that it’s a lifelong dedication,’ he has stated previously.

According to 1 report, when requested one other time which of his youngsters he noticed as his doable successor, Arnault informed his pal over a luncheon close to the Champs-Elysees: ‘Well I’ve 5’ earlier than his voice tailed off.

According to the Wall Street Journal, he gathers his youngsters as soon as a month for a 90-minute lunch, throughout which he quizzes them on numerous pre-prepared matters.

In scenes that might have been plucked from HBO’s drama collection Succession, Bernard goes across the desk and asks his youngsters questions one-by-one.

Their solutions over the gruelling assembly – the place Arnault successfully auditions them – will assist resolve their future, and go in direction of serving to his resolution.

Arnault begins each lunch by studying out matters of debate from his iPad earlier than going across the desk and asking every of his youngsters for recommendation, folks near the billionaire informed the US publication. 

He may also ask them for his or her opinions on the corporate’s managers and what they might do with the corporate – and whether or not any of their prestigious manufacturers want a shake-up in administration or focus. 

Speaking to The Telegraph, HSBC’s Erwan Rambourg says ‘the expertise and high quality of administration of the heirs’ means buyers shall be pleased with any of Bernard’s heirs finally taking the reins.

‘While Bernard Arnault has not made clear what is going to come subsequent, you at the very least know there are numerous choices,’ he added.

In latest years, rumours have been circling in Paris over whether or not it could be Delphine who would take the reins after she was promoted final yr.

The billionaire’s solely daughter appeared to edge ahead within the race after her father unveiled her as head of Dior, LVMH’s second-largest model. 

Just days after, she was entrance row on the Dior runway present in Paris, alongside David Beckham, his youngest son Cruz, British actor Eddie Redmayne and his publicist spouse Hannah, the Twilight star Robert Pattinson and mannequin Karlie Kloss.

However, it was additionally recommended on the time that buyers ‘do not need a great really feel’ for Delphine, whereas others described her elevation to the top of Dior as a ‘little current from Daddy’.

Just weeks earlier than Delphine’s promotion, Antoine additionally turned the chief govt of the listed firm that holds the household’s stake in LVMH.

Now with Alexandre and Frédéric becoming a member of the fray, the sphere is much more open.

Luca Solca, an analyst at Bernstein, informed The Telegraph the choice will in the end be ‘depending on enterprise efficiency, in what shall be a Darwinian atmosphere.’

All 5 of the youngsters are nonetheless understood to be within the working, however the resolution was pushed again in January 2023 when Bernard raised the retirement age of LVMH’s chief govt to 80, giving himself at the very least six extra years.

‘As to succession, you might also have seen that the retirement age – which could be very a lot in vogue – has been prolonged,’ Arnault stated on the time.

Some observers assume the battle for succession is much less bitter or intense than that seen in different firms, or depicted in HBO’s succession.

One of Arnault’s pals, businessman Sidney Toledano, stated in 2023 that he’s assured that all the billionaire’s youngsters can work by way of any disagreements as a result of they’ve been taught to place the pursuits of the enterprise first. 

‘For now, they get on nice,’ Toledano stated. 

People near the household additionally stated that the youngsters keep away from talking about who’s greatest at sure jobs or sports activities to keep away from any look of battle. 

Toledano stated Arnault is ‘above all a practical man’. ‘You have to decide on whoever is greatest at a given time limit contemplating the challenges. It’s what he does together with his managers, his advisers, and I feel it is what he’ll do together with his youngsters.’

But the hard-working ethic of the Arnault household was drilled into the youngsters from an early age.

Illustrating this, Antoine, on the age of 14, wrote a letter to his youthful brother which learn: ‘Dear Alexandre, I hope that your delivery went properly, and that you simply’re alright. I counsel you to begin working instantly as a result of in any other case…’

Antoine printed this unfinished word on his Instagram account final yr.

HSBC’s Rambourg suggests in The Telegraph {that a} company construction may very well be drawn up that provides every of the 5 youngsters management of the enterprise, and would cease them from with the ability to promote their shares with out approval from the others.

For now, Bernard nonetheless has management, and has till he’s 80 to resolve.

Until then, Rambourg tells the British newspaper, ‘The greatest individual to switch Bernard over the subsequent 4 years is probably going extra of Bernard.’