Page 53 - Forbes - Asia (December 2019 - January 2020)

phine, 44; Antoine, 42; Alexandre, 27; and Frédéric, 25. His Delphine, meanwhile, leads the six-year-old LVMH Young
youngest child, Jean, 21, will likely join the company when he Fashion Designer Prize, awarded each year to one designer
finishes school, according to Alexandre. Shortly after he start- chosen from thousands of applicants. Louis Vuitton’s Virgil
ed as strategy and digital director at the Swiss watch brand Abloh was a finalist for the 2015 prize (he had interned at
TAG Heuer a little over a year ago, Frédéric Arnault pitched an Fendi in 2009 with his friend Kanye West). And LVMH has
idea to his father over dinner. To enhance the brand’s smart- launched an accelerator program for up to 50 promising
watch for golfers, he wanted to acquire a French startup, Fun- startups in the luxury goods sector at Paris’ Station F, the
Golf, that had built an app with detailed terrain data on 39,000 brainchild of French billionaire Xavier Niel, who also happens
courses. Players could use it to measure how far they were to be Delphine’s long-term partner and the father of the
from sand traps or greens. “The people in the M&A depart- couple’s two children.
ment thought I was crazy,” he says. But once he made the case So what do Arnault’s offspring say about which one of
to his father, says Frédéric, “He said, ‘Go for it’.” them is likely to lead the company one day? As though read-
Alexandre Arnault says Bernard was quick to green-light ing from the same script, they all sidestep the question. “Our
tech deals Alexandre spearheaded at the family investment father is very young,” says Delphine. “He’ll work for 30 more
vehicle, Groupe Arnault, including bets on Spotify, Slack, years,” Alexandre says. “I don’t think he’ll ever stop,” says An-
Airbnb, Uber and Lyft. Then, in 2016, he persuaded LVMH to toine, head of LVMH corporate communications and chief
pay $719 million for an 80% stake in the 121-year-old German of Berluti. “This is not a topic we think about,” Frédéric says.
luggage maker Rimowa, favored by A-listers like David “We hope he is going to stay as long as possible in this role.”
Beckham and Angelina Jolie. At Rimowa, Alexandre later led “People ask me all the time,” says Arnault. “What is most
product collaborations with au courant brands like American important for the group is we find the best, and we’ll see if it’s
skateboarding line Supreme. in the family or outside the family.” How long will he work? “I
have no end decided.” Though he won’t say which of his chil-
dren he is most likely to promote, he is eager to talk about
CLOSING IN their talents. He shows off a video on his iPhone 11 of Fré-

déric playing a Liszt sonata in preparation for a concert he will
LVMH STOCK HAS BEEN SOARING, MAKING ARNAULT ONE OF
THREE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD WORTH MORE THAN give at a music festival outside Paris with his mother. Canadi-
$100 BILLION. HE’S PULLED $400 MILLION AHEAD OF an-born pianist Hélène Mercier-Arnault, 59, performs regular-
BILL GATES AND LAGS JEFF BEZOS BY JUST $5 BILLION.
ly as a soloist and chamber musician. “Like a professional,” Ar-
$300 nault says about Frédéric’s skill. “I’m not playing like that.”

As for sibling rivalry, Arnault and his children paint a por-
250 trait of family harmony. The siblings often gather for Saturday
LVMH
lunch with their parents, and they all spend some of August
S&P 500
at the Arnault compound in Saint-Tropez. Only Frédéric ad-
200
mits that discord surfaces on the tennis court. “It can get quite
tense,” he says. “Our father is very competitive. He doesn’t like
150
losing. This is something he’s transmitted to us.” No one close
to the family will make an on-the-record prediction about suc-
100 cession. But one longtime observer says that when Arnault fi-
nally steps down, “It will be Game of Thrones.”
Arnault sees the future playing out quite differently, con-
50
12/31/15 01/06/17 01/05/18 01/04/19 10/18/19 vinced his tight-knit family’s control will give LVMH an edge
for years. In his mind, he’s going up against not only competi-
SOURCE: FACTSET
tors in the luxury sector but also global giants. He calls Micro-
NET WORTHS
soft a “beautiful company” but notes that Gates has held onto
131
BERNARD ARNAULT only a small number of shares. “Long-term he won’t be there,”
113
JEFF BEZOS
112 108 he muses.
BILL GATES 107
$100
97 BIL Before proclaiming his vision for his conglomerate, he
90
86 catches himself. “In a way, I should not say that, because you
75 73 72 76 may think I am pretentious,” he says. But then he lets loose:
“[LVMH] is a French monument. Because it represents France
$50
45 BIL all over the world. People know better the name of Louis Vuit-
42
34
ton, Christian Dior, Dom Pérignon, Cheval Blanc, than any-
thing else. Maybe they know also Napoleon? General de
Gaulle? We think it’s important that this group, for the long
03/2016 03/2017 03/2018 03/2018 11/2019
term, is controlled by a French family.” F

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