Paris (AFP) – Two sons of the world’s richest man Bernard Arnault on Thursday joined the board of LVMH after a shareholder vote, further cementing the family’s control on the French luxury goods giant.
The pair joined their elder siblings on the board of directors of the company, which houses brands such as Dior and Louis Vuitton, meaning four of Bernard Arnault’s five children now sit on the board.
Alexandre, 31, is the executive vice president of Tiffany, while Frederic, 29, is the CEO of Swiss luxury watchmaker Tag Heuer.
The Forbes magazine currently lists Bernard Arnault, and his family, as the world’s richest person with a fortune of $214 billion, ahead of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk who heads Tesla and X.
Each son got more than 93 percent at the shareholder meeting, with the results coming as no surprise.
The Arnault family group holds 48.6 percent of LVMH’s capital and 64.3 percent of the votes, a fact Arnault acknowledged shortly ahead of the proceedings. “I’ve got the majority of votes, so…”, he said.
Two other children from a previous marriage, Delphine, 49, and Antoine, 46, are already board members, but the youngest sibling, Jean, 26, still has to wait his turn. “He has time, he’s young”, said the 75-year-old founder.
LVMH also nominated Wei Sun Christianson to succeed Toni Belloni, the group’s number two, who announced his departure at the end of March.
Christianson, who joins from American investment bank Morgan Stanley, is “a great expert on business in China”, said Arnault, stressing the value of the country’s market. “The group has a strong presence in China, so it’s important to have precise views on what’s happening,” he added.
LVMH announced on Wednesday sales of 20.7 billion euros ($22 billion) for 2024’s first quarter, slightly under industry expectations, in part, due to a slowdown in Chinese consumption.
“I hope that economic tensions will ease and that we can continue a sustained economic collaboration with China,” said Arnault.
The group also announced the launch of an employee shareholding plan “by the end of the year”. “Everything is complicated in France, but I think we’ll get there,” Arnault said.
© 2024 AFP
