He is a French business magnate, investor, and art collector Arnault is the Chairman and Chief Executive of LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton SE, commonly referred to as LVMH, the world’s largest luxury-goods company. He is the richest person in Europe and the second-richest person in the world according to Forbes magazine, with a net worth of $103.7 billion, as of June 2019.In April 2018, he became the richest person in fashion, toppling Zara’s Amancio Ortega. After graduating from the Lycée Maxence Van Der Meersch in Roubaix, Arnault was admitted to the École Polytechnique in Palaiseau, from which he graduated with an engineering degree in 1971.

Born to an industrial family in Roubaix, France on March 5, 1949, Mr. Arnault attended the Roubaix lycée and the Faidherbe lycée in Lille. He then went on to study at the Ecole Polytechnique.

He began his professional career that year as an engineer with the Ferret-Savinel construction company and successively was promoted to various executive management positions before becoming Chairman in 1978.

Mr. Arnault remained there until 1984, when he undertook the reorganization of the Financière Agache holding company. He returned the group to profitability as he embarked upon a strategy of developing the world’s leading luxury products company. In the process, he reinvigorated Christian Dior as the cornerstone of the new organization.In 1989, Mr. Arnault became the majority shareholder of LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton, creating the world’s leading luxury products group. Mr. Arnault has been Chairman and CEO of the company since that date.Mr. Arnault is also President of the Board of Directors of Groupe Arnault S.E. (his family holding company).Mr. Arnault is married and has five children.He has been awarded the honorary titles of Grand Officier de la Légion d’Honneur and Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres.

Turning point

After completing high school he enrolled at the prestigious Ecole Polytechnique and received a degree in engineering. Upon his graduation the young man joined his father’s civil engineering business as an engineer and also started planning for the company’s growth and expansion. He convinced his father to change the focus of their business to the booming real estate sector, and found significant success in the field. He eventually started acquiring other companies and became the owner of the prestigious Christian Dior brand and Le Bon Marché department store. When LVMH was created as a result of a merger between two companies, Arnault invested millions in the shares of the new company and became LVMH’s first shareholder. Eventually he was selected chairman of the executive management board and in this position he led an extensive expansion plan and transformed the company into one of the largest luxury groups in the world.

He moved to America in the 1980s where his expertise in real estate enabled him to have success building luxury apartment and condominiums in Palm Beach, Florida.

Arnault later returned to France and took over the textile firm, Boussac, which owned the brand Christian Dior. This buyout became a model strategy for Arnault, which involved building a multinational luxury conglomerate by taking over famous but struggling family-owned brands.
 Parts of the Boussac company were sold off and helped fund the purchase of a 24 percent share in the LVMH enterprise.

Arnault eventually took control over the company, aided by a stock market crash in 1987, which helped him acquired a 43 percent stake. He became the largest shareholder and set about moving the company’s focus more in line with the luxury marketplace. This rebranding included taking on a new designer called John Galliano, who played an important role in the establishment of the company.

Arnault continued buying luxury brands during the 1990s, including Givenchy and TAG Heuer. His skill in maintaining tight control over his purchases has involved taking legal action against individuals and organisations linked to counterfeit products that Arnault considered to be undermining his brands. This tactic has ensured the longevity of some of the most famous names and products in the world.

Arnault set the trend in the luxury sector, as other businessmen looked to reproduce the method of accumulating brands. Despite some competition, he remains the leader in the luxury sector, employing more than 70,000 people, with revenues of €16.5bn in 2007 and a net profit of €2bn.

He has been married twice and has five children, and is a well know collector of art, and created a Louis Vuitton foundation for contemporary art, scheduled to open at the Jardin d’acclimatation in 2010.

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