Bernard Arnault named his son Frédéric head of the LVMH family group
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French billionaire Bernard Arnault has appointed his son Frédéric as head of one of the family-controlled companies LVMH, the latest move in a series of promotions for the 29-year-old heir to the far-flung conglomerate. The world’s largest slag.
The fourth of Arnault’s five children, Frédéric will replace Nicolas Bazire as chief executive officer of Financière Agache, the company said on Thursday. The Arnault family owns 48% of the shares LVMHcompany’s capital and 64% of voting rights. The Paris-listed group owns brands including Louis Vuitton, Dior and American jeweler Tiffany.
A recent graduate of the top engineering school Ecole Polytechnique like his father, Frédéric was was appointed executive director of LVMH Watches, after a stint as chief executive of Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer. He and his 32-year-old brother Alexandre were appointed to the LVMH board in April, along with siblings Delphine and Antoine. Shares rose 1.34% on Thursday, giving LVMH a market value of 381.46 billion euros.
The changing roles of the five Arnault children, all of whom have roles within LVMH, are scrutinized for signs of who might one day succeed the group’s 75-year-old patriarch .
However, Bernard Arnault has insisted that he has no intention of backing down anytime soon and that the group two years ago increased the age limit for taking on the role of chief executive at LVMH to 80. But the French billionaire is very careful. kidney. lay the groundwork to succeed the company by placing his children in key positions – a process that has accelerated since the beginning of 2023. He recently reshuffled his top outside managers to establish Establishing a generational transition between senior executives working alongside their families.
Delphine Arnault, 49, was appointed chief executive of Dior – the brand with the group’s second largest sales after Louis Vuitton – in early 2023 and is a member of LVMH’s executive board.
Antoine, 46, is responsible for the group’s image and sustainability, and was appointed chief executive of Christian Dior SE – another family holding company above LVMH – at the end of 2022 .
Alexandre is a senior executive at jewelry company Tiffany & Co, which was acquired by LVMH for about 16 billion USD in 2020. Jean, 25, runs the watchmaking business at Louis Vuitton.
In addition to his family, group CEO Antonio Belloni, 69 years old, step down After 23 years as Bernard Arnault’s right-hand man in April, he was replaced by Stéphane Bianchi, formerly head of LVMH’s watch and jewelry division, who had been the family’s longtime successor at the group. French cosmetics group Yves Rocher.