One of the richest people in France - Bernard Arnault, whose fortune, from the point of view of Forbes magazine, is estimated at thirty-seven billion euros - was making such success deliberately. Since 1989, he has led LVMH (Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton), a leader in the manufacture and sale of luxury goods.
Start
Arno's father had a small construction company, and although she was not at all out of her son’s ambitions, he handed it to a twenty-five-year-old young man. Bernard Arnault broke up with the construction at the earliest opportunity, literally two years later, his father put before the fact of the sale after the completion of the transaction. Then, for four years, the young man studied business in the USA and perfectly studied the procedures of mergers and acquisitions, adopting the American methods of hostile takeover of companies.
In France, this knowledge quickly turned into a skill. The money from the sale of a family business was more than successfully invested. It so happened that Boussac went bankrupt - a textile conglomerate that owned, among other things, the famous Christian Dior fashion house. The French 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, and he had 15, and bought up the shares of this company first from relatives who were owners, then from the government.
Luxury
The revival of the burnt-out company Boussac, in principle, was not planned. Arno sold the assets as much as possible. However, suddenly 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 a world leader. Naturally, this was impossible to do from scratch, and Bernard Arnault in 1988 began to buy up the shares of the newly formed company LVMH. It was a real explosive mixture: champagne “Washes”, cognac “Hennessy” and the world famous company “Louis Vuitton”.
However, the unifying idea still was: different brands belonged to the luxury class. The economy around the world is experiencing the conditions of globalization, to promote and maintain each individual brand is expensive, and a single portfolio is not so difficult. It turned out that even trading in luxury goods, there is an opportunity to save, which Bernard Arnault did. A photo of this period shows a person how serious, just as confident.
Empire
Such tactics brought fruit almost immediately. Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) is now in control of such high-profile fashion brands as Christian Lacroix, Givenchy, Kenzo, Loewe, Berluti, Guerlain, Celine, jewelers Fred and Swiss watchmakers Tag Heuer.
Alcohol brands also increased - these are Dom Perignon, Veuve Clicquot, Krug, Pommery. The empire is growing, and Bernard Arnault, whose biography is the biography of one of the born businessmen, is still one of the most active buyers in the world.
Not without defeat
One of them happened while trying to add all the rest to its own share of Gucci shares in order to become the sole owner. The possessive family of this old and luxurious company has quarreled strongly - apparently, weary of each other since 1923. By the 1980s, the company fell into complete decline. True, after thinking carefully, Bernard Arnault refused to buy because of the terrifying neglect of all things. Then he regretted this decision, but for the company they asked too painfully expensive. I tried to persuade the manager, offering him a salary worthy of this step. He started messing around.
Then Arno, as they say, bit a bit and filed a lawsuit in the Netherlands (“Gucci” is registered in Amsterdam as a legal entity) regarding the unfair management of the company. The manager (De Soleil) was also not a fool: with a team of American business lawyers he implemented a capital dilution scheme, issuing twenty million shares. Arno's share was eventually halved. Then De Sole sold forty percent of the shares to rival Arnaud - Francois Pinault, whom they had long encountered on the trails of business.
But not without luck
In addition to the above, Bernard Arnault owns the auction company Philips, the same one. that she sold Malevich's “Black Square” for fifteen million dollars. He also has his own media: financial publications Investir and Tribune, the magazine for art lovers Connaissances Des Arts, the radio station Classique, as well as ten percent of the shares of the owner of the TF1 channel - Bouigue Corporation. In addition, investments in a holding of sixty Internet companies - Europatweb - are constantly increasing.
The secret (and not a secret already!) Of the success of entrepreneur Bernard Arnault is the purchase of dying famous companies, which are then brought to the level of superprofits. The condition is growing dizzy. The businessman has a business instinct at the level, he is also lucky, and luxury products are always in high demand. It should be noted that he is also famous for charity. Arno is a sponsor of art galleries, supports all disabled people from the Academy of Fine Arts who study there, and spends a lot on finding talent in art and business.
Personality
Bernard Arnault and family own an excellent collection of Renaissance paintings, they love classical music. The father of the family plays the piano quite well, and married the famous Canadian pianist Helen Mercier, who bore him children. Like almost all French, Bernard Arnault is a foodie. Likes a steak with blood and a chocolate cake. But he does not recognize familiarity: even the closest ones turn to him at you and very often in a whisper. He does not like to speak publicly, refuses to interview. Almost never smiles, and even relatives never saw him laughing. He speaks a little. He thinks a lot. This is the whole Bernard Arnault.
Children
He has many children (information is different), but for the inheritance - the French empire of LVMH - two are fighting: the daughter of Dolphin and the son of Antoine. The key asset of the group’s portfolio is Louis Vuitton, and Dolphin Arno-Gansia was recently appointed vice president. A responsible position, since this brand generates much more than half of the empire’s total profit. Antoine also leads another company, men's - Berluti.
Dolphin has a very good education, which allowed her to quickly make a career: the French business school and the English school of economics. Already in 2003, she was on the board of directors of LVMH. For five years she worked as a deputy director of Christian Dior Couture, during which time the heat of sales growth became twice the industry average. It is possible that she will inherit the entire empire created by her father. Although many continue to bet on Antoine. Nobody knows what Dad thinks about all this, who has three more children and many nephews.
Son of Bernard Arnault
Dolphin is an introvert, all in a father. As the witty French say, the Napoleon of the luxury industry or the 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 to stocks or the chairmanship of the board of directors. But Antoine is an extrovert, an excellent manager and may well become the face of the whole huge group. Colleagues praise him for his excellent communication skills. It was he who was able to persuade M. Gorbachev to star in an advertisement for Louis Vuitton, which received the Cannes Lions award .
A constant hero of socialite chronicles, Antoine takes his every step, looking back at work. An affair with model Natalia Vodianova only fueled interest in the brand. Bernard Arno and Vodianova are related by the fact that she is the wife of his son and the mother of his grandson Maxim. Antoine, with all his gaiety, is always internally assembled - it is not without reason that he is considered the most experienced poker player (with a total gain of six hundred thousand dollars), for this you need a head much more than luck. And he does not rule out that someday he will replace his father at the post. But not soon.
Spivakov and Louis Vuitton
As a true lover of classical music and a famous philanthropist, Bernard Arnault is familiar and consists in friendship with many great musicians. Vladimir Spivakov and Bernard Arno met on the same basis. The latter even made a very necessary gift to the musician on his birthday - a case for Stradivarius. Such that it was 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, a wife, some medications, notebooks and much, much more. There are no pockets for all this in a hard case. In this gift, there were not even pockets, but pull-out drawers with partitions, as if for jewelry. A unique luxury item for a musician who, 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 capital of France, an architectural miracle of our time. The initiative to create the Center for Contemporary Art is wholly and entirely owned by 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.
Here in this beautiful house of the Louis Vuitton Foundation, a performance was held by Moscow Virtuosos, a chamber ensemble led by Vladimir Spivakov, a world-famous musician whose violin with a fantastically famous name, brilliantly playing Bach and Tchaikovsky, rests in a case crafted by no less skillful and not less less famous hands. Things near which life itself becomes a work of art.