Power
MASTERS: LVMH boss Bernard Arnault
At the top of Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, the world's largest luxury product conglomerate, stands a man who rarely eats out, drinks little and is at his happiest when he is at home in Paris playing the piano or immersed in his other passion: tennis. Celia Walden interviews LVMH boss Bernard Arnault about his family (all five children work for his company), Elon Musk, the war in Ukraine and the value of quality. “Quality can last longer than a lifetime.”
When Bernard Arnault overtook Jeff Bezos as the richest man in the world last year, I was reminded of what the boss of LVMH said to me when we last met seven years ago: “I like to win, I always want to be number one.” The man at the helm of Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy is too refined to seem pompous, but I could see him quietly enjoying that moment – perhaps even sneaking a glass of Dom Pérignon, the brand that helped him become to make a fortune. But when I ask him now what that moment meant to him, the 73-year-old says: “It didn't mean anything to me. It's just a number.” Although $186,3 billion is not just a number. “But remember that such numbers do not mean much: it is not the money in my bank account, but the value of LVMH that thousands of shareholders and pension funds share.” He shrugs. “So yes, our efforts have made the company more valuable, but to be honest, I don't see such things as a personal milestone.”
If you think about how often such numbers and positions change, it may be understandable. As I write this, Elon Musk ($250,2 billion) tops the list with Arnault in second place ($157,3 billion) and Bezos not far behind ($153,2 billion). These three men have been dominating the top spots for months. Today we meet not at the LVMH headquarters in Paris, but at the Saatchi Gallery in London, where I get a glimpse of the beautiful exhibition of Tiffany & Co. assylum. His 30-year-old son and Tiffany board member Alexandre, one of the billionaire's five children, has kept an eye on the Vision and Virtuosity exhibition for the past year and a half. LVMH bought the brand, which is synonymous with old New York glamour, in 2020 for just under $16 billion. By the time I arrive at the gallery, the two have already spent hours viewing Tiffany's largest exhibition in nearly a century: four hundred precious objects, including more than one hundred and fifty historical pieces on public display for the first time, the (tiny) Givenchy dress that Audrey Hepburn wore in Breakfast at Tiffany's, and one of the world's rarest and most beautiful yellow diamonds: the Tiffany diamond, a 128.54 carat stone.
Having interviewed Arnault before, I know that the head of the 75-year-old empire that includes Christian Dior, Dom Pérignon, Bvlgari, Louis Vuitton, Celine, Givenchy, Fendi, Loro Piana, Sephora and Tiffany & Co. is a man with refined taste who rarely eats out, drinks little and is at his happiest at home in Paris behind his piano, where he is surrounded by art by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Damien Hirst, Maurizio Cattelan, among others. Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso, or when he is absorbed in his other passion: tennis. During that interview, he told me how his children had surprised him a few weeks earlier when he showed up for what he thought would be a family game and suddenly found himself face to face with Roger Federer ready for a game of tennis. I then got a better idea of what his family means to him and how close his five children (from two marriages) are. They all work for the family business. In addition to Alexandre, Delphine (47) is vice president of Louis Vuitton, Antoine (45) is head of communications & image at LVMH, Frédéric (28) is CEO of TAG Heuer and 23-year-old Jean is marketing and development director at Louis Vuitton's watch division.
Alexandre is also there today, in Saatchi Gallery. It's entertaining to see how normal their father-son interactions are. During their conversation, Bernard asks his son questions about pop culture. It was Alexandre's idea to appoint Emma Radcanu as well as Beyoncé and Jay-Z – friends who were guests at his wedding in Venice last year, where he married Géraldine Guyot, founder of accessories brand D'Estrëe – as Tiffany ambassadors. And like any other child, Alexandre makes teasing comments about his father's cautious attitude toward technology. In 2015, the head of the international company with 175.647 employees admitted that, although he had a mobile phone, he never texted but always called, and that he did not use email. “But I have made progress!” he assures me today. He looks sleek and elegant, wearing a navy blue suit from Christian Dior, handmade Berluti loafers and a burgundy cashmere scarf wrapped around his neck. “I now have email and follow Instagram and TikTok. Thanks to Alexandre and his brothers, I am much more up to date.”
Considering that Bernard has always been very private, I'm surprised at how openly he talks about his family. “I grew up in Northern France, where many descendants of family businesses in the textile industry lived,” he says in a slightly hoarse voice. “It's not Covid, don't worry. It's because of all the talking yesterday.” For a while, these heirs rested on their laurels, he explains. “Then they stopped working completely and their companies went bankrupt. That's why it was very important to me that my children learned a work ethic from home. That they got their diplomas and were used to working from an early age. We wanted to make them go-getters,” he says. “And that's what they became.”
MASTERS MAGAZINE
Want to read more about this interview and find out what Arnault's meeting with The Queen was like? In the autumn edition of MASTERS an interview with LVMH boss Bernard Arnault (“being the richest man in the world meant nothing to me”), a driving impression of the electric Audi RS e-tron GT, a report with the 'tree matchmakers' of The Green Contractors , an interview with star chef Dick Middelweerd and a visit to Barcelona with Ronald Koeman. The war, the climate crisis, the energy problem... Leadership and entrepreneurship are being called upon more than ever. With MASTERS EXPO | The Colorful Edition (8 to 12 December, RAI Amsterdam) we want to contribute in our own way and give the world a push in the right direction. In this edition of MASTERS a colorful preview of the most exclusive business fair. Time to think ahead, innovate, connect!
