World’s richest man holds monthly lunches with kids to groom them for running $200B empire
French luxury magnate Bernard Arnault reportedly meets for lunch once a month with his five children to discuss strategy at his sprawling business empire.
Arnault, the 74-year-old CEO of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, convenes the world’s richest family in the dining room of company headquarters in Paris for a 90-minute meal during which he asks his kids for their opinions on how best to run the conglomerate, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Arnault reads off his iPad while picking the brains of his spawn — Delphine Arnault, 48, who runs Christian Dior; Antoine Arnault, 45, who is CEO of the company that holds the family stake in LVMH; Alexandre Arnault, 30, the executive vice president of Tiffany & Co.; Frédéric Arnault, 28, who manages the TAG Heuer watch brand; and Jean Arnault, 24, the head marketing and development officer at the company’s watches division.
The monthly sessions are part of Arnault’s overall, decades-long plan to prepare his children to run the company once he is no longer there, according to The Journal.
When they were growing up, Arnault’s children were given intensive math lessons, The Journal reported.
Arnault also made sure to bring his kids with him for business trips as well as negotiating sessions.
The mogul, whose portfolio includes well-known brand names such as Louise Vuitton, Dom Perignon, Sephora, Christian Dior, Stella McCartney, TAG Heuer, Bulgari, Princess Yachts, and Tiffany & Co., has named his kids to senior posts within the company.
But the patriarch, whose net worth was pegged by Bloomberg Billionaires Index at $208 billion as of Wednesday, shows no signs of slowing down. Nor has he indicated that he plans to step aside anytime soon.
Arnault recently proposed a new company regulation that raised the retirement age of the chairman and CEO to 80.
Previously company bylaws required the top executive to step down once he reached the age of 75.
Shareholders are scheduled to vote on Arnault’s proposal during their annual meeting on Friday.
The scuttlebutt making the rounds through French business circles is that 48-year-old Delphine, who is Bernard’s eldest child from his first marriage, is the most likely candidate to succeed her dad as head honcho.
Delphine, the mother of two young children, was recently elevated to CEO of Christian Dior, the second-largest luxury brand in her father’s stable of companies.
Delphine and her 45-year-old brother, Antoine, Bernard’s other child from his marriage to ex-wife Anne Dewavrin, are also both members of LVMH’s board.
According to The Journal, Bernard Arnault has leaned on Antoine, whose influence has also been on the rise, for public relations advice.
When French protesters took to the streets last year in response to rising inflation and wealth inequality, Bernard Arnault was concerned that public anger could be directed toward him, his family, and the company.
The mogul took Antoine’s advice and launched an ad campaign which highlighted the extent to which LVMH paid taxes and created jobs, according to The Journal.
French demonstrators created “wanted” posters with Bernard’s likeness on it as they angrily denounced French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposal to raise the retirement age.
Protesters even stormed LVMH headquarters in Paris last week as the Arnault family fortune hit an all-time high.
Bernard has also made sure to groom his three younger children by enrolling them into top engineering schools.
The youngest, Jean, earned a degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as well as from Imperial College in London.
The conglomerate ranks as Europe’s most valuable stock by market capitalization, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Arnault’s fortune has swelled by nearly $48 billion this year alone during a lengthy rally in the firm’s shares.
