“Who comes next?” That’s the one question luxury insiders and fashion lovers have about the biggest company in the industry, LVMH. The Paris-based behemoth has only ever been led by founder and CEO Bernard Arnault, the 75-year-old patriarch, who’s also one of the wealthiest people in the world (he briefly topped the rich list last year ). Given LVMH’s clout as Europe’s most valuable company and the owner of some of the most loved luxury brands, everyone—from investors to shoppers—is interested in the company’s future.
Arnault’s children are involved in the family business, and most are part of the LVMH board, too. That’s prompted parallels to the TV show “ Succession” and theories on who might take the reins from him. But it will be a while before there are any definite answers because Arnault doesn’t plan to retire.
And even though the LVMH chief is aware of the speculation surrounding his future successor, he says the jury is still out. “I have five members of the family working in the group. Let’s see if one of them has the capacity to take over,” Arnault told Bloomberg in an interview published Tuesday .
As founder-CEOs often do, Arnault sees LVMH as his baby. He spends 12-hour days managing the company he turned into a global conglomerate with €86.2 billion ($92.
17 billion) in revenue last year. The luxury chief made LVMH’s board extend the retirement age for its chairman and CEO (i.e.
, himself) from 75 to 80 just so he could stay lo.
