Arnault Family LVMH Succession Saga: Will Pro-Crypto Sons Prevail?

Bernard Arnault, CEO of luxurious super-conglomerate LVMH and the second-richest man on Earth, has a option to make.

In line with a profile printed Thursday by The New York Instances, the 74-year-old company titan—who controls 75 prime luxurious manufacturers together with Louis Vuitton, Dior, Dom Pérignon, TAG Heuer, and Tiffany & Co.—is at the moment evaluating which of his 5 kids he would possibly choose to inherit his enterprise empire. 

The choice is a consequential one, which is able to doubtless form the trajectory of the world’s strongest luxurious participant for many years to return. The selection additionally stands to have a large influence on the centrality of rising applied sciences—notably, the blockchain—to the technique and picture of the handfuls of main luxurious manufacturers underneath LVMH’s thumb.

Two of Arnault’s sons—Alexandre, 31, government vice chairman of product and communications at Tiffany, and Frédéric, 28, CEO of TAG Heuer—are credited with encouraging their father to embrace blockchain expertise and NFTs. They’ve satisfied him to push associated improvements by LVMH portfolio corporations together with Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, TAG, and, most lately, Dior. 

If both Alexandre or Frédéric had been to succeed their father and assume private management of LVMH, blockchain and different cutting-edge applied sciences, together with synthetic intelligence, would all however definitely tackle a extra central position at LVMH-owned corporations, which additionally embody Bulgari, Givenchy, Dom Pérignon, Veuve Clicquot, and Hennessy.

Given LVMH’s measurement and stature, such selections would additionally doubtless affect, if not outright information technique and developments within the broader luxurious and style industries. However Alexandre and Frédéric aren’t the one heirs jockeying for the crown—Arnault’s different three kids all work in management positions at LVMH corporations, and had been additionally groomed for these roles from a younger age.

Delphine, 48, Arnault’s eldest little one and solely daughter, serves as chairwoman and CEO of Dior; Antoine, 46, guides LVMH’s picture whereas operating style manufacturers Berluti and Loro Piana; Jean, 24, heads Louis Vuitton’s watch division.

In line with the Instances, Arnault gathers his 5 progeny for lunch each month on the prime flooring of LVMH’s headquarters in Paris, for what the youngsters perceive to be an unstated analysis of their readiness to in the future take the highest job. 

That day could also be a methods away—Arnault lately satisfied the LVMH board to boost the necessary retirement age for his CEO place from 75 to 80—however when it comes, it might seem the businessman is positioning a blood disciple to succeed him. Final 12 months, he reshaped the company construction of LVMH to ensure that every of his kids has a 20% stake within the firm, and that none might promote any shares for 30 years with out unanimous board approval.

Arnault’s kids insist that their rapport is decidedly amicable, regardless of the frequent comparisons made in recent times between them and the ill-fated Roys of the acclaimed HBO sequence “Succession.”

However simply as with the premise of that present, there can solely be one. Which Arnault inheritor, if any, finally ends up taking the reins at LVMH will definitely be a choice that impacts not solely the style and luxurious industries, but in addition the mainstream adoption of crypto at tradition’s highest stage.