He is the richest man in the world, ranked at the top and bottom of the thousands of lists that necessarily give this title to businessmen and investors. Owner of the LVMH conglomerate, acronyms that stand for Louis Vuitton, Moet and Hennessy, he is 73 years old and at the moment he does not plan to retire, although he has already begun to leave strategic control positions in all these companies in the hands of his heirs. This step is one more step in the reorganization of the group to ensure that his fortune remains intact and in the hands of his children, avoiding internal and external problems that could harm his legacy.
Bernard Arnault is the richest man in the world, ahead of the Bezos, Gates, Musks and other CEOs and entrepreneurs who have earned their places on the Forbes list over the years. However, a great fortune entails a great responsibility, that of equally distributing a huge inheritance and avoiding problems that end up destroying everything built by the businessman throughout his life.
You cannot become the richest man in the world and the most prominent in the world of fashion and luxury without having a great capacity to develop medium- and long-term plans that meet the demands of distributing and ensuring the family fortune. .
Who are the heirs of Bernard Arnault
Arnault has five children. His firstborn and only daughter, Delphine Arnault, is at the head of Christian Dior Couture. Then there is his son Antoine, 45, who holds the position of CEO and vice president of the board of directors of the holding Christian Dior SE, which controls LVMH. Following in the succession line is Alexandre, 30 years old and in charge of Tiffany; Fréderic, 27 years old and in charge of Tag Heuer, and the youngest of them all, Jean, who at 24 years old directs the marketing and development department of Louis Vuitton.
In recent years, many bells have rung as to who would be Arnault’s final heir, understanding this position not as the only one to enjoy his fortune, but as who would be at the head of the management of the entire business conglomerate. When Alexandre got his job at Tiffany it was rumored that he could be the one, eyes have always been on Antoine as the businessman’s first son (yes, there is still this tendency to think that only boys count, especially in the corporate world of luxury) and when Delphine took the reins at Dior this January, attention shifted to her.
Apparently all this is nothing more than rumors. Arnault’s idea is to reorganize his business conglomerate so that it is in the hands of his five heirs and, if there are no problems, all of them will have an equal share in the company’s decisions.
How is Arnault going to get LVMH to remain among his children?
There is a company behind LVMH and Bernard Arnault has just given it a great face lift so that the whole group is in the hands of the family, especially when he is absent. Specifically, he has restructured Agache, turning it into Agache Comandite, a limited company. This company controls Christian Dios SE, the holding company that brings together the majority of the group’s firms.
At the moment, Arnault is the first and only partner in this new company, but when he dies it will be divided in exactly equal parts among his five children. Thus, he ensures that the group remains in the hands of the family and without inheritance distribution problems, since the five of them have to distribute everything equitably as they are the legitimate and forced heirs of their enormous wealth.
Now, the family controls 48% of all the capital of the conglomerate and also has 64% of the voting rights. In this way, the French businessman shields the group while dissuading competition and investor groups from trying to gain control of LVMH.
